Born Damned
by DDaughterofAthena
Summary: When Damasen ran into a group of monsters, he wasn't expecting to rescue a two year old demigod, considering they're both in Tartarus :: or, the one where Hades is tired of his brothers breaking the oath, and decides to teach them a thing or two by throwing Poseidon's kid (Percy, was his name?) in Tartarus. Surely he won't last ten minutes in there. (Disclaimer: I don't own PJatO.)
1. Prologue: Once Upon a Banishment

Prologue  
 _Once Upon a Banishment_

"Perseus Jackson?"

A young woman stood up, a toddler no more then the age of two sitting next to her. Light brown curls were hung loose around a worried face, blue eyes glinting with a sheen of nervousness. The woman in question was Sally Jackson, a 35 year old with a toddler named Percy Jackson. Well, technically it was Perseus, but neither of the mother-son duo was prone to calling him that.

"Here," the woman called out.

"Dr. Bryant is ready for your appointment." The nurse said, gesturing for Sally to follow her.

Sally shot her a weak smile and then grabbed Percy, blue eyes giving a sweep over him to make sure he hadn't hurt himself in the few seconds she had spent informing the nurse of her existence. Some would call Sally overprotective, others would call her outright paranoid. But unlike most parents, Sally had a reason to be nervous for her son. You see, Percy was a demigod. Half mortal and half Greek God. His father, Poseidon, was the god of the sea and one of the most powerful gods around. And being a demigod meant you gave off a scent that other mythical monsters could track down. Being a son of one of the "Big Three" meant you had a much more powerful scent that monsters could easily track. And being the product of an oath that specifically said to not give birth to any children meant that even the _gods_ were on your case. So yes, Sally believed she was fully justified in being 'overprotective' or 'paranoid'.

The nurse scowled when she saw Percy being picked up, her strangely colored yellow eyes flashing. "Right this way, _ma'am_ ," the nurse forced out. Giving a sweep of her arm in the general direction of Dr. Bryant's room, the nurse clenched her jaw and walked toward the exit of the waiting room. Sally, too busy focusing on Percy, didn't notice the nurse's odd behavior.

"Thank you, miss...?" Sally said, her eyes mindlessly tracing the room.

The nurse faltered, her hand inches away from the waiting room's doorknob. Without turning around, she answered. "It's Alecto. Just Alecto."

* * *

The Lord of the Underworld's hall was dark and ominous, a complete opposite to Olympus's white and golden pillars and beams. Statues stuck in various stages of torment had their mouths open in screams of pain, and skeleton guards lined the edges of the hall. A throne was at the end of the hall, a massive black and gray sculpture that was built for a god. To many, it would have been a horrible place to live for eternity. To Hades and his various servants, however, it was home.

"Lord Hades?"

A bat-like woman flew into the room, leathery wings keeping the hag carrying them aloft. The woman, if she could even be called that, had sallow skin, bones eerily prominent against her snow-colored skin. Her eyes were nothing more then dark pits, a yellow light gleaming ominously.

"Yes, Alecto?" It appeared the throne was occupied, a seven-foot-tall man looking as though he had simply emerged from the shadows.

The hag, Alecto, gave a quick bow before flying to the throne. "Lord Hades, I believe that Zeus had impregnated a woman who had given birth to yet another spawn of his."

"What do you mean, he had impregnated another woman?" Hades's eyes, resembling flints of obsidian, smoldered with rage. The skeleton-guards cowered away from him in fear, bones shaking and teeth chattering.

Alecto quickly said what she had discovered; that a boy, bearing the name 'Perseus', had an aura surrounding him that only one of Zeus's children could give off.

"How dare he! Another child? Was it not enough, to give birth to Thalia? Did he not know the consequences?" Hades growled, light flickering around him. The shadows seemed to gravitate toward Hades, and the skeletons shot each other shifty looks; even Alecto found herself filled with rage.

"However-"

"What is it, Alecto?" Hades spat.

Alecto faltered, shying away from the throne as she gave her news. "However, Perseus looks much like Poseidon did as a child. It is possible he is a sea spawn, rather then a child of Zeus."

Hades faltered, a deathly calm seeping through him. "Poseidon, you say? It appears I, and I alone, have followed the oath."

Musing softly to himself, Hades suddenly turned to the Fury in front of him. "Bring the child to me. I shall decide what to do with him."

* * *

"C'mon Percy, go to sleep." Sally whispered, her eyes drooping with fatigue. It had been way harder then she expected to get Percy to take a doctor's shot.

"Mommy! One stowy! Pwease?" Percy begged, using what Sally called his 'baby seal eyes'.

Sally sighed. "Fine. But this is the last one, okay?"

Percy nodded, snuggling inside his blanket.

Sally cleared her throat, opening up Percy's favorite Dr. Seuss book for the thousandth time.

"Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to great places! You're off and away! You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in... any... direction... yo-" Sally's voice cut off abruptly, and Percy found himself turning around, giggling when he saw that Sally had fallen asleep.

Closing his eyes, they flew back open when he heard the shadows begin to whisper.

" _Hello Perseus..._ " A voice hissed.

Percy jumped in terror, eyes wide with fear. "Mommy?" he said, voice catching.

" _Did you think you could hide from us?_ "

"Momma!" Percy cried, hoping Sally would wake up. But, caught in a magic-induced sleep, all she did was mumble a 'Go to sleep, Percy.'

" _It is time to pay,_ Perseus _!_ " The voice said. Out of the hideous shadows of the room, Alecto swooped out, her talons outstretched in Percy's direction. Percy screamed, but no one heard him. " _There is no escaping Fate._ "

Grabbing Percy, the shadows twisted around the two and suddenly Percy was gone, Sally alone in the room.

* * *

"He is here, Lord Hades."

Hades slipped out of the shadows, once more appearing in his throne of bone and shadows. "Good."

"What would you like me to do?" Alecto asked, her voice dripping with malice. Her fiery whip appeared in her hands, a magically sleeping Percy set at the foot of Hades's throne.

"Throw him into Tartarus." Hades responded curtly.

Alecto blinked, her yellow eyes wide. "...My lord?" Even _she_ didn't like thinking of the Pit, and she was literally a servant of death.

"You heard what I said. Now do it."

"But, my lord-"

"I have long since suffered injustice at my brothers' hands." Hades seethed. "No more will I tolerate it. And what better way to punish them then to throw one of their own into Hell itself? Perhaps then they will learn to not simply _ignore_ my realm."

Alecto nodded once, her eyes falling on the sleeping toddler's body. Now, instead of rage or murderous hatred, all she felt was pity. _No one_ deserved Tartarus- not even Perseus.

Hades, sensing her faltering, raised an eyebrow. "Would you like one of my better suited servants to do it rather then you? I'm sure they would be more then happy to come into my favor."

But she wasn't stupid enough to try and _save_ Percy. "I shall do it, my lord."

Hades gave her a sharp nod before disappearing in a swirl of shadows. Grabbing the child, Alecto brought it to the entrance to the pit in the Underworld. Fighting the urge to fly in there herself, or to save Percy, Alecto merely closed her eyes before throwing Percy into the Pit.

 _Good luck Perseus._ She thought. _You're going to need it._

 **Thanks to my beta, Writer Obsession, for helping for with this! It's the beginning of a probably 40+ chapter fic, so I need all the help I can get :) Anyway, please follow, favorite, and review!**


	2. My Giant Red Knight

Chapter I  
 _My Giant Red Knight_

Damasen grit his teeth, hefting a drakon-bone spear polished to an almost unnatural sheen. Outside, he heard a Drakon's familiar roar, challenging him to come and fight. Tensing his muscles, Damasen wiped his face with a dirt-encrusted napkin, wiping away the sweat that had collected on his face while he had carved the spear out of the Drakon's carcass that he had fought a few days (or was it weeks?) ago.

Crying a battle cry of his own, Damasen opened up the door of his little dirt hut, leveling the deadly-sharp tip ready to plunge inside the Drakon's hide. The 20-foot something giant seemed puny compared to the sea-colored Drakon, but the anger in his eyes was enough to make any sane person cower away from him. Obviously, the Drakon wasn't sane. Screeching, the dragon-like creature ran at full speed toward Damasen, it's red eyes glowing. Damasen roared, his hand snatching up a nearby tree from the scraggly grove with inhuman speed. Taunting the Drakon, Damasen stepped in the gaping hole where the tree's roots once were. The Drakon quickly changed it's course and ran to Damasen, coming to a screeching halt right before Damasen was about to stick the tree _in_ the Drakon's mouth.

Suddenly Damasen felt something like a supersonic _boom_ echo through the depths of Tartarus, and he found himself crashing to his knees in amazement. Tilting its head, the Drakon's teeth were revealed in what looked like was supposed to be a feral snarl. Damasen blinked in confusion, dropping his guard at the Drakon's sudden happiness. The Drakon suddenly twisted around and stormed _away_ from Damasen, disappearing in the thick fog that was settled around Damasen's hut. Damasen's eyes widened, and he faltered, the spear falling from his hand. Ever since he had been cursed to Tartarus, Damasen had fought the Drakon every single day, without fail. Now, suddenly, it appeared that the Drakon had left, which had _never_ happened before. Ever. Something, something big had happened. Unwilling to leave it alone, Damasen soon followed the Drakon, slinking into the dark red fog as though he had never been there.

* * *

Damasen crouched his legs, his brown tunic little more then strategically placed pieces of cloth that barely covered him, much less offered protection from the elements, or from the sulfurous air that he had somehow gotten used to. But, in Tartarus, you took what you could get, and Damasen wasn't about to let the gift he had gotten from a stray arai go to waste. In front of him, the Drakon (whom he mentally labeled "Echthrós"*), ran forward at breakneck speed, not faltering in its pace for even a second, not allowing the rocks littering the ground to stop it.

Damasen wasn't sure for how long the two had run. Minutes? Hours? _Days?_ Without the regular fighting every day to help him keep track of time, Damasen was lost. Caught in his own musings, he heard Echthrós's triumphant screech too late, and he looked up to see a gaggle of monsters standing in a loose half-circle in front of a cliff, hissing with delight. Damasen felt a brief flash of vertigo when he saw the dozens of monsters there. Ever since Tartarus, he hadn't seen a single living soul other then Echthrós for a long time, as he couldn't even leave his hut without being steered back there by Tartarus itself. Speaking of Tartarus... how come Damasen wasn't back at his hut already? Any time he had ever traveled this far he had _always_ ended up back there. Why wasn't Tartarus paying attention?

Shoving those questions aside for later, Damasen found himself pushing through the crowd of monsters, ignoring the surprised mutters and hisses at seeing him. Some of the newer _empousi_ or _telkhines_ didn't even know who he was, and cowered away from him in the fear that he would turn out to be like other giants- cold and ruthless. Finding himself at the front of the crowd, Damasen blinked in shock, freezing to the spot. Because there was no way, none at all, that a _demigod_ was in Tartarus.

* * *

"I now call the Winter Solstice meeting to order!"

In Tartarus's opposite, Olympus, the twelve Olympians were seated at the Hall of the Gods, along with Hestia, who was always there, and Hades, who was there out of necessity.

In the past century or so, most of the Council's winter solstice meetings were short and abrupt, ending within a span of an hour or two. This time, however, all the Olympians were agitated. Two days ago there was a shockwave that had spread throughout the world, that all the Olympians felt. Most of the mortals had chalked it up to Déjà Vu, but a few who could see through the mist (and were later interviewed on the news) said that it was like a giant crack in the ground, glowing red, had been created in Los Angeles. Of course, it was gone in several minutes, but it was breaking news with conspiracy theorists- and news for the gods as well.

"Our first order of business is Camp Half-Blood." Zeus said, electric blue eyes daring anyone to go against him. "As you all may kno-"

"Cut the crap, Zeus." Poseidon said, rolling his eyes. Wearing Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, he looked like the poster boy of an elderly surfer. "We all know that's not the highlight of this meeting."

The other Olympians nodded, sitting up straighter in their seats, now interested. Apollo even unplugged his iPod, although he still looked pretty uninterested, whispering quietly to Hermes.

"I agree," said Demeter.

Zeus glowered when he saw the other Olympians take Poseidon's side, but he stopped protesting when he saw Athena, of all people, agreeing with Poseidon- and they were enemies.

"Does anyone know what the shockwave was?" Zeus asked bluntly, raising an eyebrow. Normally a shockwave wouldn't have the Olympians so jumpy- Zeus and Poseidon created several on their bad days. But this one was different, this one was one worth noticing.

The Gods looked at each other, expecting one to say yes.

Hades took this opportunity to speak. "Before that," he said almost lazily, as if it didn't matter to him, but barely concealed rage and self satisfaction threaten to twitch his lips upwards. "Don't you believe that you should confess your betrayal from two years ago, Poseidon?"

All eyes snapped to the sea God. At first, Poseidon looked confused, but the knowing glint in Hades's eyes caused dread to churn his stomach.

"What did you do?" Zeus demanded.

"I have no idea what he speaks of," Poseidon retorted harshly. Surely Hades can't mean-

Hades suddenly exploded, bolting up from his "visitor's" throne with a thunderous expression. "Don't you dare lie!" He hissed. "I never wanted to take that oath, but both you and Zeus forced my hand! And I've honored it! But you- you two-" Hades inhaled sharply. For millennia his brothers had mistreated him, and now all the bitter emotions that he'd so far bottled up were coming to the surface. The shadows seemed to cluster together and towards Hades, and some of the other Gods leaned away slightly.

"Poseidon, did you have a child?" Athena questioned evenly. The discovery threw the Gods into a frenzy as they yelled their claims, accusations, and threats.

"SILENCE!" Zeus thundered, his master bolt appearing in his hand and sparking dangerously with his temper. Everyone quieted, eyes glancing wildly between Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. "Now, Poseidon-"

"Don't," Poseidon warned lowly while keeping his narrowed eyes on Hades. "You have no room to speak, brother." Surprisingly, Zeus's jaw shut as Poseidon rose and stalked in front of Hades. Poseidon's eyes seemed to crash and fall like angry waves. "Swear on the River Styx that you haven't touched or done anything to Percy." When Hades stayed eerily silent, Poseidon snapped, gripping Hades's robes and slamming Hades against the visitor's throne. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

"Hey, hey!" one of the Gods exclaimed. Others moved to break to two apart, but hesitated at the great, raw power that was poring out of two furious Gods.

Hades's smirk was a nasty one. He lifted his chin up and sneered, "Nothing I won't do if this betrayal repeats again."

"What have you done?!" Poseidon raged again, inches away from Hades's face.

Hades didn't look away from Poseidon, wanting to fully experience the other's reaction at the news. "I threw him into Tartarus."

Gasps sound from all around the grand room. Poseidon froze, his grip slacking. All color left the sea God as his knees buckled and he fell to Hades's feet.

"What?" he whispered, utterly horrified. Percy, Percy- his little boy. His Percy. Such a sweet and innocent child. In Tartarus? That can't be right- it just can't be.

Staring at Hades, Aphrodite was also white as a sheet. "You threw a two year old into Tartarus?" she whispered, voice deathly quiet. She felt as though she was about to vomit -and she wasn't the only one either.

Hades only straightened himself, glancing at Poseidon and Zeus with deep loathing and disgust. "Perhaps now you will keep your word." And then he disappeared in a blink.

The room was silent, except for Poseidon's broken sobs and a few Goddesses' sympathetic ones. Hestia slowly approached Poseidon and put a hand on his shaking shoulder.

Poseidon roughly recoiled before disappearing as well.

Zeus sat down on his throne wearily, the other gods taking this as their sign to do the same. He needed to think about this- a lot. "Meeting Dismissed." Despite everything, the first question that came to Zeus's mind was why Poseidon's child and his shared the same name. Was it so that this 'Percy' would share in Perseus's happy ending? Because Percy was in Tartarus. And as much as Zeus didn't want to say, the kid had probably died a gruesome death a few days ago, and if it wasn't dead already it would soon be.

Closing his eyes, he heard a storm brewing in the distance, that wasn't caused by him. He could almost _hear_ Poseidon's anguished cries, even though the sea god was in Atlantis. Fighting the urge to stop the storm, to protect the mortals, Zeus allowed Poseidon to vent out his anger, trying to get used to the weather, knowing that the next months would pass much the same.

* * *

Damasen closed his eyes, breathing in and out before opening them. Yup, the kid was still there. The boy was dressed in cloth and linen pants decorated with fishes, and something in another language was inscribed in fancy lettering on his shirt, white against a dark blue background.

He was hanging on a hook made by Tartarus's natural rusty red walls, eyes closed, most likely unconscious, his back nothing more than a mass of raw, bloodied skin. Damasen was shocked the boy was still alive- most would be dead by the fall. The boy had dark black hair, messy and rumpled, and several cuts and scars marring his skin from his fall, his clothes torn. What shocked Damasen the most, however, was his age. No more than two or three, the boy was in _Tartarus_. If he was older, Damasen could possibly understand. Doing something horrible to Olympus guaranteed you a one-way ticket down here. But the boy was a toddler. There was no way he could've done anything that had him come down here.

His parents, perhaps? But he would be dead and his parents would be down here. Damasen glanced at the boy before another thought came to head. What if the boy was an immortal? Turned into a child so that none in Tartarus would be the wiser. Yet he would have _ichor_ for blood, not red blood.

" _A delicious meal he will make,_ " an empousi hissed, hair flaming brightly against Tartarus's dark sky.

Damasen heard others cry out in agreement, and he found people jostling him, trying in vain to grab the boy's body. "STOP!" Damasen roared, snatching the boy up before they could. The boy's eyes opened when he was snatched up, and his sea-green eyes widened in fear, beginning to scream and struggle against Damasen. Damasen forced himself to ignore the boy, and eyed the crowd.

The monsters who had been alive in the old days, like Echidna or the Minotaur, wouldn't mind him, as they knew he wouldn't do anything. But, surrounded by newbies, the monsters shied away in terror. "The boy is mine."

" _Yes, yes_ ," a telkhine hissed, _"Yet he would make a good meal for_ all _of us._ "

"He. Is. _Mine_." Damasen growled, using his stature to terrify the crowd even more. The monsters hissed, closing in a haphazard circle around Damasen, fangs bared and claws shining in preparation for a fight. Echthrós seemed to lead the charge, it's claws poised in readiness for their annual, postponed fight.

Damasen held the boy in one arm, the giant's hands brushing the cliff. Sensing a crevice in the cliff, Damasen carefully set the boy in it, taking care not to disturb any of its wounds, a difficult feat as the boy kept on squirming and screaming. As soon as the boy was set in the cliff, Damasen confronted Echthrós, tensing his muscles. It felt odd, fighting with a cliff at his back rather than a wall, and without a spear or trees next to him. Yet Damasen was as ready for the fight as he ever could be.

Echthrós pawed the ground, the claws in its feet burrowing in the hard rock. The other monsters settled back into a circle, content to watch the Drakon do their dirty work for them. Jumping in the air, Echthrós let out a guttural scream, aiming to land where Damasen was standing. Ducking, Damasen threw his hand out in a vain effort to try and smash the Drakon against the wall. Instead, Damasen felt a blinding pain in his hand as rocks tumbled down. Hearing the boy's scared cries, Damasen faltered- he had forgotten that the boy was there. And if he forgot again, all his efforts to save the demigod would go to waste.

Hearing another battle cry, Damasen allowed muscle memory and instinct to guide his movements, jumping out of the way again. Now, the two had turned a total 180, and Echthrós was now the one against the wall, rather then Damasen. Pressing his advantage, Damasen walked toward Echthrós, the giant's iron-colored eyes glinting eerily in Tartarus's red lighting. The Drakon arched its back, ready to fly over Damasen, but before it could do so Damasen snatched out his hand, arms pinning the Drakon's wings. Looking Echthrós in the eye, Damasen fought the urge to paralyze on the spot, and instead raised his right hand, gripping the Drakon's neck and twisting it to the side until a loud _crack_ could be heard. The drakon, rather then having its carcass freeze on the spot like Damasen was used to, instead disappeared in a cloud of golden colored dust.

Looking behind him, Damasen saw the other monsters' eyes widen and quickly scatter, unwilling to have to fight him. Above him, Damasen heard something scrabble against the rock, and barely remembered the boy. Lifting his hands, Damasen carefully picked up the boy and brought him to eye level. The boy stared at Damasen with a sort of impressed shock, sea green eyes wide- but instead of with fear, as before, with wonder. "What's your name?" Damasen croaked out. The boy looked at him in confusion, and Damasen mentally hit himself. Of course, he was speaking in Greek- and he doubted the boy knew that. Sifting through his memory, Damasen closed his eyes as he remembered a bit of... what was it called? Engik?

"Name?"

The boy's eyes glinted with understanding and trust, the latter of which made Damasen's heart warm.

"Percy," the boy- no, _Percy_ said.

"Well then," said Damasen, "let's take you home, Percy."

* * *

 _ ***Echthrós = 'Enemy' in Greek**_

 **Oh my gods! *Squeals* Thank you guys SO MUCH! I didn't expect that much feedback on the last chapter, and all the responses made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :)**

 **In honor of me getting a laptop and (hopefully) updating every Saturday, and in honor of the first reviews:**

 _Writer Obsession:_ Aww, no problem :) And thanks for catching the mistakes. ALSO, thank you so so so so so much for your help on this chapter :)

 _Bruce77:_ Thanks for the feedback :) As for the Sally thing, right as Alecto appeared she made Sally fall asleep- that's why Sally didn't see her. And thanks :)

 _BethnPercy:_ Hopefully you found out what Hades was thinking :) (I use ':)' a lot) Thanks! :)

 _Tiredofthisbs:_ Thanks :) Hopefully it lives up to your standards :) But really, you should give the W.O. (Writer Obsession) credit for this idea, they're the one who made it after all. Thanks Writer!

 _28:_ Lol, I've updated now :) And thanks!

 _ChocoChomper:_ Thanks! As I said before though, W.O. helped come up w/this idea :) I already have that seen planned out, and (imo) it's going to be AMAZING. As for the child of the prophecy- not having an idiot becoming it, but to see who it is ;) And I've updated!

 **I was grinning like an idiot while responding to this, and still am... :) And also, thanks to everyone who followed or favorited! Ya'll, plus the reviewers, is what motivates me to continue writing and updating quickly *hint hint* :) But anyway, thank ya'll so much! Can't wait to see you guys next chapter.**

 **-Lauren Swan**

 **(PS: Please follow favorite and review :))**


	3. Utter Hell

Chapter II  
 _Utter Hell_

 _"Momma!" Percy cried, eyes wide._

 _Sally turned around, chuckling. "What is it, Percy?"_

 _"It's Chwismas!" he cried, eyes wide with excitement as he pointed through the window looking over the alleyway between the apartment buildings. On the opposite building, an owner's blinds were open, though it was still partially blocked by a heavily decorated Christmas tree, their neighbors in the spirit for the holiday merely one day away._

 _Sally faltered, her eyes dulling when she saw what Percy was looking. It was Percy's third Christmas, and she was determined to make the most of it, as she had spent the last two years' Christmas money on paying the apartment rent. She wasn't going to rob her baby boy of another Christmas. But where was she supposed to get the money- her pocket? Because try as she might, she just didn't have the money to get the weeks groceries, much less a Christmas present._

 _"Yeah, it's Christmas, all right," Sally said, forcing enthusiasm into her words. You see, Christmas had always been a hated holiday for Sally, long before Percy. For one, her mom and dad had died on a trip, during Christmas. And while that had certainly killed her "Christmas Cheer" for most of her life, there was also another reason- she had met Poseidon on Christmas. Not only had the Christian part of her died that day, but she had also condemned her unborn child to life of pain and misery that day. And after becoming pregnant, after giving birth to Percy, she couldn't bear the thought of him having to suffer through a prophecy, through having to_ die _because of the gods._

 **«∙»**

Ding Dong

 _A bleary-eyed Sally Jackson stumbled her way over to the door, cloth-covered hands rubbing her face. "I'm comin'." She slurred, stumbling on her way to reach the door._

 _Opening it, she blinked- it seemed that someone had decided to prank her once more, ringing the doorbell and running away. What was this, the 60th time? About to close the door, she caught a whiff of the sea, which made her wake up faster then any coffee ever could. Blinking, she scanned the hallway, her blue eyes catching a box of the same color sitting on the frayed_ Welcome _mat, a blue envelope on top of it. Snatching it up, Sally quickly shut the door, gripping the envelope to her chest._

 _Her eyes scanned the envelope, looking for something to show that this was regular mail given at an odd time, that someone happened to send her a blue package smelling like the sea. No such luck. There was no postage stamp, no address- on the contrary, it looked like it had just been bought at the Dollar Tree._

 _Tearing open the envelope with shaking fingers, a single sheet of paper fell out, landing on the scuffed and dented hardwood floor._

For Perseus _, it read._

 _Typed in the standard_ Times New Roman _font, there was nothing distinguishing about it, except for the fact that_ no one _other than Sally and Poseidon knew what Percy's real name was. Which meant that the message was sent by Poseidon, the man that Sally had been trying to ignore for the past two and a half years._

 _Sally opened the door once again, the blue box lying undisturbed on the mat, innocent as can be. Grabbing the box (which was surprisingly light), Sally hefted it into the apartment, closing the door once more. Entering the kitchen and quickly snatching a knife from the upper cabinets (which Percy couldn't reach), Sally entered the living room and opened the box._

 _Inside, there was a_ hippocampus _stuffed animal, a snow globe that had golden flecks surrounded what Sally assumed was Atlantis, and a..._ goldfish _?_

 _Yup, there was a goldfish there. It was swimming in a bowl, a bag of goldfish food and other necessities sitting next to it. Sally bit her lip, staring at the gifts obviously for Percy surrounding her. Should she keep them, and allow that tiny bit of the Greek World to reenter her life? Or should she leave it alone?_

 _Although her brain and heart knew what the logical thing to do was, Sally was still having doubts. Before she could make a decision, a loud_ beep-beep-beep _could be heard throughout the apartment- it was officially Christmas day. Quickly grabbing the gifts and putting them on the kitchen table, Sally went to go wake up Percy, grinning when she thought of his expression when he saw the gifts. Needless to say, it was one of the best Christmas's she had in a long time._

* * *

Sally woke up smiling, her frizzy brown curls plastered to her face. Even though it was December 19th, Christmas was six days away, and Poseidon had never given her money, it was still a nice dream to wake up to. Crinkles forming around her eyes, Sally automatically turned to Percy's crib, her eyes faltering when she didn't see Percy's body. The blankets were torn up into shreds, and the crib was little more then a bunch of broken wooden beams thrown together, the blue paint that was once on it scarred and scratched. It didn't take Sally long to figure out what happened. Somehow, even after all her careful planning, someone had taken her baby boy, her _Percy_. Numb with shock, Sally just stood up, her eyes looking around the room, the dream long since forgotten and the smile gone.

The aquatic wallpaper looked relatively unharmed, other than the scratches and claw marks on the wall near Percy's bed. The Dr. Seuss book she had been reading was sprawled on the ground, the pages torn out and the once happy faces on the cover looking grotesque. Sally's fingers numbly traced the wall as she stumbled out of Percy's room, slipping into a haze as she walked into the kitchen.

Suddenly, _finally_ , the full meaning of what had happened sunk into Sally, and she collapsed into one of the sofas, her breaths labored and her skin glistening with sweat. Gods, Percy was gone, gone, _gone_. She would never see him again, she would never be able to look into those beautiful eyes of his, so much like his fathers, again. She would never be able to hear his adorable laugh again, would never be able to hear that tiny, almost indecipherable lisp of his again. She would never be able to carry him again, she wouldn't be able to laugh and tease him again, she wouldn't be able to see him grow up. She would never be able to have that Christmas she dreamed of, she would never be able to tease him about his first date and give him the dreaded 'the birds and the bees' talk. Everything that made her Percy special, different, was gone, just like that. It was like the gods were playing a cruel prank, like the fates had decided to spin her son's life with barbed wire rather than yarn.

Sitting there for what seemed like ages, Sally finally got up, her skin sticky with dried tears. Glancing up at a clock hung haphazardly on the wall, Sally shook her head when she realized that it was 5:00 P.M. on the 20th. It seemed like long ago when she still had Percy. A part of her dream came back to her just then, and Sally froze, her sadness now tainted with unadulterated anger. If it weren't for Poseidon, Percy would never would have had the fate that he had. He would've grown up as a normal boy, with Sally's biggest worry that her boy would have his heart broken by a girl (or guy) rather than a limb broken by a monster. If it weren't for the god damned _gods_ , Percy would never have been taken from her.

Now, most would call Sally a kind person, albeit a bit stern. But when it came to her only child, her Percy, she had a determination ready to topple the gods from their thrones.

 **«∙»**

"The 600th floor." Sally said, her voice hard. Walking into the Empire State Building at 6:00 P.M., her hair and clothes a mess, face stained with tears, and red-rimmed eyes, most walked around her, clutching the hands of their loved ones a little closer then before, shooting her uneasy glances. Ignoring all of that, Sally had walked up to the man manning the lobby, demanding entrance into Olympus.

"Ma'am, there is no 600th floor," the man insisted, eyes bored.

Sally froze, her eyes hardening into flints of blue ice. "My _son_ is a child of one of the gods, and he _died_. I think that that perfectly allows me to walk into Olympus, _do you understand_?" she hissed, her words become colder and clearer the more she spoke. The lobby began to clear out when they saw Sally at the booth, afraid of what she might do next.

The guard faltered, before sighing. "Look, I can't let a mortal into Olympus. But seeing as how you know about the gods, you probably know about the summer camp?" He asked, taking care to leave it as a question. When Sally nodded, he continued. "I can offer you entrance there, if you'd like. Speak to Chiron."

Sally closed her eyes, before talking in a breath. "Okay."

* * *

The wind was whipping at her face, tires skidding over sandy stretches of road. Sally ignored the weather, the Toyota the security guard had given her already beaten and battered.

Camp Half-Blood was just up ahead, the cresting hill the only mar in the night sky. The hill itself was covered in waist high grass, and Sally found herself about to turn around and grab Percy, making sure that he wouldn't get lost in it. Freezing momentarily when she realized Percy wasn't there anymore, Sally slammed the brakes when the car was about to crash into the hill. Sally quickly stepped out of it, pausing for a moment as she glanced up at the hill. While from a few feet away it looked like a regular hill overrun by nature, on closer look the Mist seemed to disperse for Sally, allowing her to see a golden dome seeming to encompass Camp Half-Blood, pulsating with light and giving off waves of energy and godly power.

A mirage of a strawberry field seemed to flicker inside the dome, and it was replaced with an image of a Grecian Styled Camp, complete with sword-fighting arenas and dining pavilions. Most campers seemed to be inside the dining pavilion, chatting animatedly, a 6 foot tall campfire roaring purple behind them. Sally blinked, biting back tears. Percy could've been one of these campers. If Sally hadn't been selfish, Percy could've been _safe_ , and while Sally wouldn't meet him as often, at least she wouldn't be mourning his death.

Shaking her head, Sally touched the golden dome, a strange feeling running through her hand. Her hand felt like water was running across it, and on a whim, Sally stepped through the dome, feeling as though she had just walked through water. Campers looked up when they saw Sally, mutters rippling through them as they stood up as a crowd, gripping weapons and stalking towards the mortal.

"HALT!" A voice roared.

The campers stopped, their murderous expressions softened to ones of wary. Chiron ran up to the campers, an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt clearly visible underneath a quiver full of arrows and a bow. "You must be Ms. Jackson." he said, voice rumbling. Sally nodded, pretending to be oblivious to the campers' quizzical expressions. "Come with me."

Sally followed him to a baby blue colored house, her heart panging when she saw the color.

"This is the Big House." Chiron explained before turning around to the pavilion, blinking. "Go back to your regular activities. Micheal* will be teaching Archery instead of me."

The campers reluctantly dispersed, though Sally was certain she saw two brown-haired kids jump behind the bushes. As though to affirm Sally's thoughts, Chiron called out, "Stolls! Back to your cabin!"

Two seven-year olds crawled out of the bushes, looking disappointed but walking back to a ring of twelve cabins where the other campers seemed to be going as well.

* * *

"I assume you must have many questions," Chiron started, pouring out a glass of water and handing it to Sally.

Grabbing the water, Sally set it on the table, leaving it untouched. "I don't have any questions. I just want justice for what happened to my son."

Chiron blinked, setting his cup down as well. "Ah yes, Soter** told me."

"Soter?"

"The security guard." Chiron explained. After Sally nodded in understanding, he continued. "First, what was your son's name?"

"Percy."

"Percy Jackson was his name?" Chiron asked, slipping into a sitting position.

"Yes."

"Who was his father?" Chiron asked. Judging by Sally's personality, he assumed it was Hermes or Ares, but who knew?

Sally faltered, eyes staring blankly at the glasses on the table.

"You _do_ know who it is, yes?" Chiron pressed.

"...Poseidon," Sally muttered.

Chiron froze. "His father is _Poseidon_?" he whispered, words laced with disbelief. Yet Sally didn't seem like one to lie.

"Yes." Sally said, standing up when she realized that probably nothing would come of this visit. "I'm afraid it's a bit late, I have to go home."

Chiron turned to the clock. blinking when he saw that it was already 10:30 P.M. "Why don't you stay here for the night? You can go in the morning. And besides, today is the Winter Solstice, and the gods must be having their annual meeting right now. If, as you've said, Percy is a child of Poseidon, and he's missing, I'm sure it will be discussed. If you stay here, you'll most likely find out what happened tomorrow."

Sally nodded, before freezing. "Did you say today was the Winter Solstice?" she asked, eyes wide with horror.

Chiron nodded, face confused.

"Gods, he's been gone for two days?" Sally whispered, beginning to pace the room. "I was asleep for two days?"

Chiron blinked, "What day did you think it was?"

"The 20th."

"Percy was taken on the 19th, I assume?"

"Yes," was all Sally said, her eyes the picture of sadness and grief.

Chiron struggled for words, before saying, "I'll go get some food for you. The extra rooms are down the hallway, take a left and you'll see a door labeled 'Guest'. That's where you can stay."

* * *

 _Knock knock_

Sally stood up from her bed, not knowing how long she had slept. For all she knew, it could've been Christmas.

Opening the door, Sally saw Chiron, holding a plate bearing pizza and a can of coke. "This is for you," he said, eyes glancing down the hallway. "Also, a visitor has come to see you."

Chiron stepped to the side, before a face Sally had tried to forget for three years stepped into the doorway, Sally pinching herself to make sure it wasn't another dream.

" _Poseidon_ ," she breathed, taking a shaky breath. Chiron, seeming to understand that he was intruding on something, quickly put the tray of food in Sally's room before leaving.

Poseidon wore his typical Bermuda shorts and Hawaiian shirt, his signature trident held in his left hand. Leather sandals made a low _thumping_ noise against the hardwood as he entered Sally's room, black hair brushing the top of the door frame as his sea green eyes met Sally's blue one's. The entire meeting was so reminiscent of the two's time at Montauk that it took quite a bit of Sally's willpower to not jump into Poseidon's arms.

"Sally," Poseidon said, voice cracking with sadness. For the first time, Sally actually looked at Poseidon's eyes, and she sobered at what she saw. Whatever happened to Percy, it wasn't good. His eyes were crashing, like a hurricane's, and was probably the reason why it was raining outside. His lips were pressed in a line, and his posture slouched with grief and sadness.

"What happened to him?" Sally asked, her eyes searching his face for answers. Poseidon didn't ask who Sally was talking about, as they both knew it.

"Percy, he- he- he fell into Tartarus." Poseidon whispered, eyes flaring with fury and anger.

" _WHAT!_ " Sally cried, her voice echoing around the near-bare room. Her eyes grew wide, and the momentary anger that possessed her flew away, leaving her stunned, falling to the ground. Gods, Percy was in _Tartarus_ , he was in _hell_. Percy was two for gods' sake!

"Hades, he- he was mad at how I had broken the oath. He thought that if he threw Percy there, then Zeus and I would learn to follow oaths." Poseidon said, filling the silence that followed. He looked at Sally, eyes filled with remorse.

Sally flinched when Poseidon looked at her, her blue eyes glaring at the sea God. "You were supposed to _protect_ him," she hissed.

"Sally, I'm sorry, I didn-" Poseidon cried.

Said woman faltered, her gaze softening. "I know Poseidon. I just- I need some time. Please, leave."

Poseidon's eyes softened, and he vanished with in thin air, leaving the scent of the sea lingering in the air.

Sally let her mask fall, and felt tears fall down her face once more as she mourned the loss of her son, as she mourned the loss of Percy Jackson.

* * *

 ***Because Percy's two, Micheal is around 15, and the Stolls are around seven  
** _Soter_ , the Greek Daimon of safety**

 **oh my gods guys! we got 12 reviews last chapter asdfdsghkajdf I just want to hug all of you guys, ya'll are amazing :)**

 **ALSO, does anyone reading this speak fluent Greek? Like, you don't need a translating app. Cause insofar I've been using Google Translate, but I don't really trust it, so plz PM me.**

 **And now for the review responses:**

 _Knightwing20042:_ The title was actually originally going to be "Hell Raisers", or "From Hell and Back", but me and Writer (my beta) both liked "Born Damned", so we chose that. Thanks for your review!

 _Its-Me-Kiwi:_ Aww, thanks Kiwi! :)

 _Bruce77:_ Lol, it's actually kinda funny how you suggested that in this chapter I should take about Damasen/Percy bonding moments, because that was how it was originally going to be, called "Fatherhood"- but I got kinda bad Writer's Block, so I scrapped that and wrote this instead :) As for what's going to happen w/Percy and the Titans, you're just going to have to wait and see ;) Thanks for the review!

 _Tiredofthisbs:_ lmao, it's nice to know that you like my writing tho :)

 _RosalieHopesBlack:_ I just updated, hope you liked the chapter!

 _OKIdon'tknowaName:_ Thanks! Glad to know you're liking the story :)

 _Thunderfang447:_ Thanks! Hope you like this chapter!

 _mylifeisogre:_ Thanks! The idea originally came from Writer, and I was super excited to take it on :)

 _Numbnuts55:_ Lol, don't hurt Hades tho! (no seriously, he has a kinda big part to play later on *hint hint*)

 _gpellepasta:_ Thanks! It's nice to know people like my writing :)

 _TheShadowAuthor21:_ Thanks James! Your new fic (the deadalus/addriane one) is really good too!

 _ChocoChomper:_ 'yoten': had me laughing for five minutes straight (only ever heard 'yeet'). The Hades character personification I was actually a bit hesitant to do, as Rick tried so hard to break the thing that he was a villain, but I tried to say why he did it in "My Giant Red Knight". Thanks!

 **And that's it! See you guys soon!**

 **-Lauren Swan**

 **(ps: please follow, favorite, and review (literally. I _thrive_ off reviews))**

 **byeee!**


	4. Fatherhood

**The words that are** underlined **, other than the chapter title, are in Greek.**

* * *

Chapter III  
 _Fatherhood_

Damasen groaned, forcing himself up from the ground. In front of him, a highly amused Percy snorted, eyes bright with an amused gleam. Damasen had been out grabbing the few human-digestible roots grown in Tartarus, and he had fallen down after tripping over a tiny, practically minuscule pebble. Percy had been out with him at the time and had witnessed his fall as well, only adding to Damasen's embarrassment.

"Alright Percy." he grumbled, clods of dust falling from his hands as he stood up, snatching up Percy and resting the toddler in his palm. When Damasen had taken in Percy, he had expected it to be easy- after all, mortals look after children all the time, and they weren't even gods or titans. How hard could it have been? Not a day after taking in Percy, however, Damasen quickly realized he was _way_ in over his head. Three weeks later, and Damasen was still getting used to Percy living with him. It was an entirely new way of living that Damasen just wasn't used to. He had to figure out diapers, he had to _constantly_ watch Percy, he had to put up with Percy's seemingly random temper tantrums, he even had to feed the boy himself!

"Calm down, little one." **(1)** Damasen said absentmindedly, reverting to Greek.

Percy's brows furrowed in confusion, and he looked at Damasen with a question in his eyes.

Damasen mentally hit himself, momentarily forgetting that Percy spoke that foreign, new language- not Greek.

"Calm down." Damasen supplied, trying to remember if that was the right translation.

Sea green eyes brightened with understanding, and Damasen grinned. While Percy might not know Greek, he was a child of one of the Greek gods- it wouldn't take him long to pick up on it.

Damasen slowly bent down, putting Percy on the ground once more and grabbing the roots that had fallen from his hand. "Let us go inside," **(2)** he said, already trying to help Percy gain an affinity for the language. "Let's go inside."

* * *

"Dama! Dama!" echoed through the hut, and Damasen sat up from his couch, rubbing sleep from his eyes as he woke up from a fitful dream. Damasen went to Percy's room, seeing the demigod sitting on top of the bed. Technically, it was actually Damasen's room, but Percy stayed in it instead, and Damasen crashed on the couch.

"What is it, child?" **(3)** Damasen asked, concerned.

Percy sniffled, burrowing himself a cave in the monstrous blankets. "Mommy," he admitted tearfully, missing his mom.

Damasen blinked, not expecting that. As the child of Tartarus and Gaea, he had never really felt love for either of his parents, so he couldn't even imagine what Percy was going through. "It's- it's okay, Percy. Go to sleep now, okay child?"

Percy sniffled again, scowling at Damasen. "Where Mommy!" he cried, tears streaming down his face. Damasen took a hesitant step back, unsure of what to do. He didn't have any experience with this kind of stuff, and it left him uneasy to try and comfort Percy. Not being able to bear seeing the tears on Percy's face, Damasen looked out the four foot tall window spanning the length of the room's left wall. Through it, the red sky of Tartarus looked even darker and more ominous then normal- anytime Nyx was in Tartarus, although it might be daytime in Gaea's realm, it was always night in Tartarus. Damasen's thoughts wandered, and he found himself trying to remember the last time he had seen Nyx- the last time he could remember was when Nyx had Geras, the god of old age. How many children was that, 40 now?

 _She would probably have a better time raising Percy then me_ , Damasen thought bitterly, his eyes looking back at Percy, now sleeping fitfully, curled up in the drakon-skin blanket.

An idea suddenly struck him and Damasen sighed, kneeling next to the demigod, gently brushing the boy's shaggy hair out of his eyes. He could go to Nyx and ask her for help. It was a far shot, and an unlikely one as well, but Damasen _needed_ that help- gods knew he could use it. And, despite all odds, Damasen _trusted_ Nyx. She might've been cold and harsh to others, but Damasen had a history with her- she'd been the one to help him get used to Tartarus and the one to help him figure out how to live in the hellhole. And although they didn't talk much, if at all, anymore, Damasen still felt that Nyx was trustworthy.

"Sleep, my child. Tomorrow we go to see Nyx." **(4)**

* * *

"No talk." Percy grumbled, pouting. The night before, as far as he knew, Damasen had completely ignored him, and his mom wasn't there. That was enough to make him hate Damasen for a while. Damasen grimaced, knowing the effect he must have had on Percy.

"I apologize." **(5)** Damasen said, sitting cross legged on the floor, a drakon skin on his lap. Sowing it together, bit by bit, he slowly created an outfit much more suited to Percy then his burned pajamas, and much more presentable to Nyx. Percy ignored Damasen, sitting with his back to the giant.

"Clothes for you." Damasen stammered, trying to get it out just right. As he expected, that piqued Percy's interest, and the demigod turned around to look at Damasen. The clothes themselves were sown together, like a body suit, and had scales rippling out from it in the pattern of waves. Most of it was blue, although part of it was a muted white, mostly near the arms. While the clothes served the purpose of Percy just having something to wear, it also served the more practical purpose of having Percy's skin stay safe from almost toxic air of Tartarus, even though several blisters and burns had already formed on the almost three-year-old's skin. Percy excitedly reached out to it, and Damasen chuckled as he quickly dressed Percy in the suit. _Maybe I don't need to go to Nyx_ , he thought, looking at Percy- Damasen seemed to be getting the hang of this. Percy's next words, however, quickly dashed that thought to pieces.

"Okay." Percy said, lying down. Damasen's smile flickered, and he quickly stood up, remembering what he had done last night- or, more accurately, what he _hadn't_ done.

"Come, let us go." Damasen said, holding out his hand for Percy to climb onto. Percy jostled Damasen as he stood on Damasen's palms, and the giant bit back a surprised cry when he felt the scales on Percy's clothes cut into his skin.

"Go!" Percy replied excitedly.

* * *

Damasen trudged across Tartarus's endless red desert, Percy sleeping contentedly in the giant's arms. Around Damasen, the shadows seemed to loom closer than before, gruesome shapes twisting in such a way that Damasen was glad Percy wasn't awake to see them- the shadows would keep him awake at night for months, if not years.

 _Grrr..._

Damasen flinched at the sound, turning around slowly. If he remembered correctly, this was the route to the House of Night- and he _needed_ to get there before it was night in the mortal world, else Nyx would be gone by the time he reached there. The growl echoed through the desert once more, and Damasen set into a fighting stance, his left arm slowly reaching toward the spear on his back while his right arm tightened around Percy's sleeping body.

A loud _roar_ suddenly was heard, and not a second later a Chimera appeared in front of Damasen, out of seemingly nowhere. The Chimera's tail, a python, was curled up above the lion head, hissing angrily as gray scales caught the few rays of light in Tartarus, the coat shining. The lion head was bowed slightly, its body connecting to the python and its golden mane whipping in the wind, looking like a fire ready to burn down Hell itself. The last body of the Chimera, the goat, had its head lowered, six foot long curled horn sharpened to a point ready to stab Damasen and then feed the giant's carcass to the lion, of which it shared two hind legs. Overall, it was a menacing sight, one to behold.

The python suddenly struck forward, it's arrowhead shaped skull darting toward Damasen- or, more specifically, the demigod currently nestled in Damasen's arm. Swatting away the python, Damasen set Percy on his shoulders, taking care not to wake the boy.

The python darted backward, its head twisting in hypnotic patterns, though the affect was ruined by the lion letting out another, "Roar!" The goat and the lion bounded forward as one, the goat's head still turned to the ground while the lion's was now up, flaming red eyes the exact color as the light. The Chimera seemed to grow in size as it bounded closer to Damasen, until the python was at least twenty feet long, and the Chimera itself was about the same size as Damasen. The lion leaped forward, aided by the goat and python, and landed with its paws on Damasen, the giant almost falling to the ground. Sharp claws scratched against the giant's chest, and warm breath smelling of rotted flesh blew against Damasen's face with the force of a typhoon.

Percy let out a tiny yawn, before opening his eyes, ready to talk to Damasen before widening his eyes in horror. The lion, sensing Percy's consciousness, lowered its head, opening its maw impossibly wide, ready to swallow Percy in one gargantuan bite. Damasen's arm went up, wrapping his hands around the lion's neck, throwing it to the ground. The goat, however, threw itself upward, its horns jamming themselves into Damasen's neck- or trying too, at least. Instead, they caught him in a headlock, too wide to actually pierce him. Damasen grabbed the horns, twisting them to the side- and completely forgetting about the python.

The python, sensing the tiny advantage it had, silently crept along the ground, slithering behind Damasen and slowly climbing perpendicular to him, brushing the giant's skin for a second before leaving. Percy, turning around, froze when it saw the python in front of him, ignoring Damasen's roar as he struggled to fight both the lion and goat at the same time. Percy's hands crept forward, wrapping his meaty toddler fingers around the snake's neck. The snake let out a hiss trying to bite Percy, only to have the demigod unintentionally duck, squeezing the life out of the python which fell to the ground with a loud _thump_.

Damasen gripped the goat's horns, tearing them off, having the goat and lion cower down and take off running into the darkness once more. Turning his head around to see Percy again, Damasen's eyes widened when he saw the demigod staring at a the dead snake, dragged against the ground, fading into dust and then having the rest of the Chimera turn to dust as well.

"Well Percy, I think we did pretty well, don't you?" Without waiting for an answer, Damasen carefully adjusted Percy, before setting off once more across the desert.

* * *

"Why are you here?" **(6)**

Damasen twitched slightly, his arms feeling like weights against his body, wanting him to just fall down right there and sleep. The telkhine at the door to Nyx's palace had a seal-like body, his words sounding like mindless chattering. "I must meet Nyx." **(7)** the giant forced out, legs aching from the jump he had to take to get to Nyx's palace- the other way was too dangerous for demigods to take.

"You may not come. Lady Nyx has to leave soon." **(8)** the telkhine responded, turning around to leave.

"It's urgent!" **(9)** Damasen cried, hyperaware of Percy, burrowed inside Damasen's pocket, squirming around anxiously.

"What's your name?" **(10)** the telkhine asked suspiciously.

"Damasen."

The telkhine suddenly seemed to take in Damasen's giant figure, and squeaked in terror, hurriedly opening the door to the palace and ushering Damasen in. As soon as Damasen entered the palace, he felt a sort of hollow, a feeling of nothingness envelope him. It was easy to see why the Palace of Night could drive mortals crazy. The palace itself was nothing- it was a void of light, a void of people, a void of emotions and people.

Damasen walked what he assumed was the expanse of the hall the door led to. In reality, he didn't even feel the slightest breeze, the slightest bit of weather or heat. All he saw was the darkest black you could imagine, with tiny, almost minuscule flecks of white decorating the dark in sporadic areas, giving Damasen the feeling of walking through the night sky. He walked for gods knew how long, Percy falling asleep in his pocket once more. All of a sudden, Damasen heard a familiar voice, clear and cold, cut through the silence that had fallen around him, seemingly as loud as a yell.

"Hello, Damasen."

* * *

 **(1)Χαλαρώστε τώρα, λίγο= Calm down, little one  
(2)** **Ας πάμε μέσα= Let us go inside  
(3)παιδί= child  
(4)** **ύπνος, το παιδί μου. Αύριο θα πάμε να δούμε Nyx. = Sleep, my child. Tomorrow we go to see Nyx.  
(5)** **ΖΗΤΩ συγγνωμη= I apologize  
(6)** **Γιατί είσαι εδώ= Why are you here  
(7)** **Πρέπει να γνωρίσω τον Nyx.= I must meet Nyx.  
** **(8)** **Μπορεί να μην έρχεσαι. Lady Nyx πρέπει να φύγει σύντομα.= You may not come. Lady Nyx has to leave soon.  
(9)** **Είναι επείγον!= It's urgent!  
(10)** **Ποιο είναι το όνομά σου?= What's your name?**

 **dude guys we're at 62 favorites oh my gods thank ya'll so much here's some cookies (::) (::) (::) (::)**

 **but seriously ya'll are amazing :)**

 **also, my request from the last AN still stands: does anyone reading this speak fluent greek, not from a translating app? cause i've been using google translate, and i don't really trust it, so... please PM me if you do :)**

 _Anonymous (Guest)_ : Thanks! So as for why Hades didn't have a greater reaction from the gods- most of them were still in shock, Poseidon especially. As for when/if and how Percy gets out, and how his powers develop, you'll just have to read to find out ;). And as for how he survives, there's a huge thing about it coming in around two to three chapters.

 _Tiredofthisbs_ : I say noice so often irl :) thanks for your review!

 _DreamCatcher06_ : I don't like fics that cross the line between mysterious and confusing, so it's nice to now my fic is neat and understandable! Thanks!

 _Numbnuts55_ : Quite more drama to come as well! :)

 _Guest (Guest)_ : Thanks! Here's another chapter!

 **Also, thanks Writer (my beta) so so so so so so so so so so so soooooo much for helping me with this chapter! It was a complete mess before, and if it weren't for her it would be horrible  
btw sorry if this chapter seems a bit short. I was going to put something else in here, but then it would drag on so...  
Also sorry for missing the update guys! i try and update on Saturdays, but life gets in the way and what can ya do ****¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ ( _also_ btw it seems that a glitch happened yesterday- ignore it)**

 **Anyway, bye guys, see you next chapter!**

 **-Lauren Swan**

 **(P.S.: please follow, favorite, and review)**

* * *

 **Edit** _(January 6, 2018)_ **: In the original copy of this chapter, I left the greek words as they were and left a key at the bottom to say what they translated to. As quite a few of you were a bit annoyed at having to continue to scroll down to see the translation, I've edited it so that the Greek versions are at the bottom, and if they're speaking greek it's simply underlined. There won't be any other Greek translations for any of the other chapter, :(. Anyway, sorry, and I've fixed it now so it's easier to read.**

 **-Lauren Swan**


	5. Hope for the Future

**From here on out, anything that is** underlined **is in Greek, other than the chapter title.**

* * *

Chapter IV  
 _Hope for the Future_  


Damasen immediately jerked his head up, trying in vain to find Nyx. Finally, after what seemed like millennia later, he saw a small pocket of white begin to grow in front of him, enveloping the blackness and leaving the bane of Ares struggling to shield his eyes from it. Percy, although in Damasen's pocket, also seemed to feel the wave of energy being released, curling up into a ball.

After he no longer saw red imprints from behind his eyelids, Damasen slowly opened his eyes once more, startled to see he was now in Nyx's _real_ throne room. The Primordial of Night herself was lounging on a throne made of black obsidian, although the energy it gave off felt more like that of Stygian Iron then simple rock. The hall was slightly narrow, but the sheer marble and the barely visible arched ceiling made up for it. The marble was black, with veins of white running through it and casting the impression that there wasn't even a wall- that the hall itself went on for eternity. And if it weren't for the fact that Damasen had come to the hall too often to fall for it, he definitely wouldn't have noticed the illusion.

"You have finally come to pay me a visit, Damasen? I have missed your company." Nyx grinned, and Damasen found himself looking at her, trying to gauge if they were friends or foes. Nyx's skin was deathly pale, and her ebony-colored hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, hair slick and straight. She was wearing a black bodysuit, with a silver zipper running down the length of her torso, other chains and knives decorating her legs. Black boots with deadly sharp heels were thrown carelessly on the ground, Nyx's bare feet covered in the shadow of the throne. But the thing that had Damasen on guard wasn't the knives or the twin swords slung across her back. It was the glint in her almost dark black, almost blue colored eyes, one that promised a torturous death to anyone who crossed her.

"Lady Nyx," Damasen acknowledged, bowing his head slightly.

"Oh, no need for _that_ , Damasen," Nyx said, "after all, we're friends, are we not?"

Damasen visible sighed, the worry that Nyx might have changed leaving him. "I must ask you something, before you leave."

"Ah yes, thank you for reminding me," the goddess responded absentmindedly, jumping out of her throne in one slick movement. "But I'm sure the mortals would be fine with an hour or two more of sunlight. And gods know Hemera could use the exercise."

Damasen nodded bleakly, before looking at Nyx. "So, I have a question for yo-"

"Before that," Nyx began, "would you care to introduce me to the demigod hiding in your pocket? I must admit, I _am_ curious to see who it is."

Damasen jumped before remembering that he was in Nyx's domain- she knew _exactly_ who everyone was. Damasen slowly grabbed Percy, taking care not to hurt the toddler who was still in a defensive position, though he was much more relaxed than normal.

"Oh, a toddler? In Tartarus?" Nyx questioned suspiciously, bringing up a bare hand with long black nails cutting through the air.

"I found him." Damasen said simply, knowing that no matter what he said, Nyx would come to her own conclusions. Stepping closer to Percy, Nyx raised herself to Damasen's height, slipping on a pair of gloves over her hands. Percy looked up at Nyx with wide eyes, looking between the goddess and the giant with a confused face.

"What is your name?" Nyx asked after studying Percy, voice softer than normal. Percy didn't respond, and Nyx turned to Damasen with raised eyebrows, eyes glinting sharply.

"You claim he is a demigod, yet he does not know the language of his gods?" She cried, voice exasperated. Damasen blinked, forcing himself not to cower.

"Percy is only a child. It would be useless for him to learn right now." He said, trying to come up with a plausible excuse.

"You would rather him grow up without being able to speak?"

"I- I-" Damasen started.

"I have no use raising a demigod who will not be able to even _talk_ to me." The goddess of night said, about to leave the hall- and more importantly, leave Percy behind.

"You know why I am here?"

"I am no fool, Damasen. I have not come to this position by simply _wondering_ what business my guests could have with me."

"Please! Give Percy a chance!" Damasen cried out, on the verge of begging Nyx to help him.

"What use could he be for me? Perhaps he would be better of with his _real_ mother, not a giant and a goddess who want to play 'house'."

* * *

Sally closed her eyes, slumping against the walls of her room in the Big House. For the past two weeks, she had stayed at Camp Half-Blood, hoping for some, _any_ news. Poseidon had sworn that he would protect Percy- but what use was a god in hell itself? Especially if the god that had put her baby boy in Tartarus had put him there without the intention of taking him out.

"Sally?"

Said woman looked up when she heard the now-familiar hesitant voice, and saw Chiron in the doorway to her room.

"Yes, Chiron?" she forced out, voice hoarse and croaky from disuse.

"The gods- _Poseidon_ has come to visit you."

Sally slowly stood up, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand- not that it did anything, of course, as her eyes still stayed red and puffy, her hair a complete mess. Poseidon had come to visit her again, for the second time in the span of two weeks- and while Sally had been a crying mess during their first meeting, she was now prepared to throw a few choice words in the god's face.

Nodding, Sally carefully busied her hands by adjusting the bedsheets and turning away from the door, hearing Poseidon enter the room a few moments later. A _clop, clop, clop_ later, Sally looked up, glad to see that Chiron had left the two alone once more.

Poseidon looked different than when they had met a few weeks ago, wearing an all-black ensemble of khakis, a button-up shirt, and leather shoes. His signature man-bun had been cut, his black hair parted in a sailor hair cut and a five o'clock shadow growing on his face. "Sally." he said simply, the only form of acknowledgment either of the two needed.

"What brings you here, Poseidon?" she asked stiffly, forcing herself to keep a poker face on.

Poseidon worried his lip, running a hand through his hair, unwilling to give any news. "Percy still- still hasn't been found."

Sally closed her eyes, clenching her fists before opening them and looking at Poseidon, letting out a ragged breath as she began to speak. "I _trusted_ you. Percy is a child. He's barely _two_ for gods' sake! I trusted you when I met you in Montauk, I _trusted_ that you would stay with me and you wouldn't leave me alone, pregnant with a demigod. And when you _did_ do that, I _trusted_ that you wouldn't forget about Percy, I _trusted_ that you would be able to protect him, even if you were half-way across the world. I _trusted_ you, Poseidon, and you broke my trust."

Poseidon visible flinched, and Sally felt a shard of guilt cut her stomach, but she kept on talking, voice dangerously calm.

"I didn't ask to have a child with a _god_. I know some would, _I_ didn't. I didn't _want_ Percy to be raised like a lamb to the slaughter, I wanted him to have a _normal_ life. And yeah, we might have been struggling, but Percy and I? We were _family_ , Poseidon, family. And you were his _father_. The least you could do was show that you cared, show that you didn't forget about him, show that you were still looking out for him. Percy? He deserved the _brightest_ , the _best_ future you could give him. He never asked for anything, and _this_ is how you gods repay him, repay _me_? By throwing him into Tartarus? I never thought that the gods would be so- so _cruel_ as to throw a demigod into _hell_."

Sally stopped speaking, feeling tears prick her eyes as she closed them once more, Poseidon crying as well. Neither of them ignored the fact that Sally had begun to speak of Percy in the past tense, as though he was in the past.

"Sally, I-" Poseidon began, before cutting himself off. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he knew that what Sally said was right, that Percy never deserved the life that was given to him.

"I- I want to speak to Hades."

Poseidon looked up, startled, only to see Sally's eyes still screwed shut, tears leaking down her face.

"Sally, as much as I want to, I can't- I can't let you do that."

"Why not? Percy deserves that much, doesn't he?"

"It- it wouldn't be wise, Sally. Hades could _kill_ you just for speaking to him, it would be even worse if you asked about Percy." Poseidon begged, hoping against hope that Sally would understand, that she would be wise.

"At least I would be with Percy," she said, finally opening her blood-shot eyes.

Poseidon looked at her with horror, realizing that Sally was going down a dark, dark path.

"You can-," the god took in a shaky breath, trying to get the words out right. "I can't do that, Sally. It's not in my domain."

Sally looked at Poseidon pleadingly, trying to get him to understand that she was _miserable_ , that she needed a way out.

"I can, however, do one thing," Poseidon said, wringing his hands.

"What?" Sally's voice had the sound of hopelessness to it, the sound of someone who'd been beaten down too many times by the world and couldn't find reason to get back up.

"San Francisco. It's- it's far away from New York. You can start a new life, you could mourn Percy's death without seeing reminders of him everywhere."

Sally sat in shocked silence, and Poseidon's eyes widened, realizing that this was the first time either of them had said, outright, that Percy was dead.

"You've always wanted to be a writer," Poseidon continued, trying to fill the silence. "I could introduce you to some people, I could make sure that you're happy there. Atlantis isn't far from there either. I could always check in on you, I could always bring you back to New York."

Sally closed her eyes once more, taking in a deep breath. "Okay."

"Okay?" Poseidon asked, trying to make sure he'd heard right.

"Okay. I'll- I'll do that. I don't think Percy would want me to waste away, to become a husk of myself. I'll go to San Francisco."

* * *

"Nyx, _please_ , I'm begging you. Percy, there's- there's something different about him. He's destined for something, and he needs help getting there. Please Nyx, _please_." Damasen cried out, Percy looking up with confusion at why Dama was so frustrated.

Nyx shook her head, turning around. "I already said no, Damasen. There's no use trying to change my mind."

"What if I told you that Percy was the child of the prophecy?" Damasen asked, knowing that that statement would pique Nyx's interest. She was always one for prophecies, and while Damasen had no way of knowing whether that was true or not, there was no harm in saying that.

Nyx faltered, footsteps away from the exit of the hall, slowly turning around. "You believe that Percy is a child of the original gods?"

Damasen bent his head, looking down at Percy with his brows furrowed. To the giant's amazement, he realized he truly _did_ believe that Percy was destined for something special, that Percy was a child of Zeus or Poseidon or even Hades- it took quite a lot to survive the fall into Tartarus, and even more to survive Tartarus itself.

"Yes. Yes, I do."

Nyx hummed in concentration, looking closer at the demigod. "He _could_ be something great," she mused, hope fluttering back into Damasen.

"However it would take quite a lot to bring him to that level. And I simply don't have the kind of time, nor that kind of energy, to train him."

Damasen closed his eyes. This problem was manageable, he just had to find a solution. Racking his head for something, anything, Damasen's memories wandered back toward the telkhine that had allowed him to enter the hall, and his eyes widened with the glimmers of an idea. "Your servants!"

"Pardon?" Nyx's face was one of confusion, though Damasen could see that she knew what he was saying- she just wasn't thinking of it directly.

"Your servants. I'm sure you have enough that they could take over some of your jobs, or they could help Percy in your absence." Damasen said slowly, trying to gauge Nyx's expression, which was a perfect poker face that would make any gambler wary and cautious.

"That would be possible..." she said, lapsing into a momentary silence before continuing, "yet I still don't know whether or not I'd be wasting my time on a lost cause."

Damasen bit his lip, trying to figure out a way to convince Nyx that Percy was worth the 'wasted time'. "He survived the fall to Tartarus! Few can do _that_."

Nyx raised an eyebrow at Damasen's flimsy argument, the giant himself knowing it was a bad one. "I can see that." she drawled.

Damasen bent his head once more, absentmindedly thinking _I really should've cleaned the blood off of Percy's clothes before we came._

Suddenly, inspiration struck the giant for the third time that night, and he looked at Nyx with fire in his eyes. "Percy slayed a _Chimera_ on his way here, and the boy's no more than three!"

Nyx looked down at Percy, noting the blood on the drakon-skin scales of his suit, as well as the dark red staining Damasen's tunic. "How do I know that it wasn't you who slayed the Chimera?"

Damasen took in a breath, thinking about it for a minute before continuing, "I swear on the Styx that Percy was part of the reason that the Chimera was slain not hours before we reached your palace."

Thunder crackled in the throne room, no matter that they were thousands of feet below Olympus, and weren't even _on_ Earth itself. Percy burrowed himself into Damasen's chest at the noise, and Damasen couldn't help but smile, crinkles forming around his eyes. Nyx looked at the two for a moment, before letting out a loud whistle, turning to look at the entrance of the hall. Not a second later an empousi appeared, bowing hastily when she saw Nyx and Damasen.

"What can I do for you, My lady?"

Nyx turned to the girl, shrinking to the empousi's size before speaking again in a whisper, low enough that Damasen couldn't hear. The empousi nodded at whatever Nyx said, and quickly turned to leave the throne room, though she quickly gave another, frightened bow before turning her back on the goddess.

"What was that, Nyx?" Damasen asked, worry lacing his words. Nyx smirked, before saying an offhand 'nothing', and the two lapsed into silence, punctuated by tiny snores from Percy, who had managed to fall asleep.

A few minutes later, several harpies and a gorgon entered the room, the gorgon looking at Nyx, who gave a quick nod to the gorgon. Curiosity piqued, Damasen jumped back when, seconds later, the harpies brought a hellhound into the room.

Damasen reached for his spear, only to feel cold run through his body as his hand was paralyzed in midair by Nyx, who nodded reassuringly. "Don't worry, Damasen. The hellhound is perfectly tamed. It's name is the Defender, and it shall serve as a bodyguard to Percy until he is strong enough to fight for himself." **(1)**

Damasen looked on with worry as Nyx slowly woke up the sleeping demigod, who yawned before spotting the Defender, resulting in the toddler squealing in excitement.

"Puppy!" Percy cried loudly, his voice echoing in the hall. What surprised Damasen the most, however, was the fact that Percy could look at the ten foot tall mass of muscle, complete with blood-red eyes and snarling fangs, and think 'puppy'. Nyx carefully grabbed Percy out of Damasen's hands, lowering him to the hellhound. Percy landed on the Defender's back, fisting the black fur and giggling, a dopey grin on the demigod's face bringing out Percy's dimples. The hellhound, on the other hand, completely changed from 'fierce, don't-cross-me war animal' to 'lovable, adorable dog' in a millisecond.

"You agree, then?" Damasen asked, looking at Nyx. The other servants took this as their cue to leave the room, and Nyx turned to Damasen, a warm smile on her face.

"I'll be at your hut tomorrow to begin training Percy."

* * *

 **(1)** **The Defender =** **O υπερασπιστής**

 **Poor Sally :( This is one of the last chapters she'll be in, but you'll see her again soon enough.**

 **So guys, Happy New Year! And Happy Holidays! I'll probably get back to regular updates rather soon, and will hopefully get the next chapter out next Saturday (oh yea, btw, I try and update on Saturdays. Just an FYI). Anyway, I'm leaving the the last A/N (A very unfortunate Author's Note) in the fic, mainly cause I don't want to mess up the reviews and chapters and whatnot, but it's not very important, you can skip over it if you want to. Nyx might seem a bit OOC compared to how she was described in HoH, but this is how I personally felt she was- and the gods are part of mythology before they're part of PJatO, so I figured I could experiment with her characterization a bit.**

 _Anonymous (Guest)_ : Yeah, Writer and I actually talked over how we wanted to incorporate Nyx in the story, as I wanted to include her, and she came up with the amazing idea :) It's actually kinda funny how you talked about his escape, because Writer and I were talking it out and figuring out how I could write it without it seeming forced or cliche. As for the Hades thing, there might be a redemption chapter for him coming around soon (*hint hint*). And yeah, I've finally updated, hope you liked the chapter!

 _Thunderfang447_ : Thanks! My next update, though long overdue, has finally arrived! Hope you like it!

 _Numbnuts55_ : Oooh, cookies! I'm gonna go get some right now :), though unfortunately they're not blue :(. But glad to know you had the thought!

 _the flower bed_ : The storyline's been discussed and pondered over so many times by yours truly and Writer, it's a miracle it's understandable ;) But love that you like my story, thanks!

 _Bruce77_ : Oooh, that sounds really good! Yeah, I'm planning on Hades having a redemption arc, but who's to say that Percy will even know who got him in Tartarus? After all, Nyx doesn't talk to the gods, and practically everyone else in Tartarus don't know how Percy got there. Of course, I'm not saying Percy isn't going to find out, but there's definitely going to be something going on, and I'll probably get some of my inspiration from your comment. And thanks! Glad you like the fic!

 _RandomReader (Guest)_ : Yea, I decided to just underline the words in Greek. It was getting a bit tiring to have to constantly translate between Greek and English, and seeing as how some major dialogues are going to be said in Greek, it's probably best to just write it out in English. And nice to know you like it!

 _Alexvsjsn_ : I must admit, I did consider doing as you suggested, but when I was writing out the draft and I realized that ¾ of this chapter's dialogue is in Greek, I didn't want to have to constantly translate or write in brackets. Of course, there still will be greek in the story, it just won't be in every other sentence. Thanks! If you want to see more of my writing, there's always my profile! (Shameless self-advertising, sorry)

 _Tiredofthisbs_ : Aww, thanks for the support! :) really made me happy and all smiley and warm inside :) And I hope this chapter lived up to your expectations!

 **Until next time,**

 **-Lauren Swan**

 **(P.S.: Please follow, favorite, and review)**


	6. Not all Black and White

Chapter V  
 _Not all Black and White_ **  
**

Hades paced the length of the hall in agitation, skeleton guards' bones shaking with fear of their master in such a state. Whispering mad ramblings under his breath, he soon called for Alecto once more, impatiently waiting for his favored servant to arrive.

"My lord?"

Hades looked up, only to see that Alecto still had Mist shrouding her, looking like a lawyer, not a Fury. With a wave of his hand, the Mist disappeared, and Alecto looked gruesome as ever.

"Alecto," Hades acknowledged. "How did it go?"

Alecto cackled, mouth open to reveal rows of fangs caked with blood. "I've brought them."

Wringing his hands, Hades took a breath to compose himself, before looking her in the eye. "Bring them in."

She flew out of the room, and a yell of defiance later, two children, one looking to be barely six and the other looking around nine or ten, entered the room. The six year old, Nico, had wide eyes, taking in everything with an awed expression while his older sister, Bianca, had a look of distrust on her face, pulling Nico closer to her.

"Who are you," Bianca demanded. Hades might've been amused, even proud, at his daughter's cold tone of voice that she achieved at barely nine, but the effect was ruined at the dangerous fire blazing in her eyes, reminding him that she, too, had power buried within her that could unleash at the slightest touch.

"I am Hades," he began, "your father."

Bianca froze while Nico, not knowing what was going on, chattered excitedly when he saw a rather detailed carving of a throne surrounded by smoke and shadows above Hades's _real_ throne.

"You- you can't- it's- it's not-" she stammered, before taking in a breath much like the one Hades just took, looking him in the eye. "Our mom would never have children with a man like _you_."

"Alecto," Hades said, and the hag left the room, allowing Hades to fully compose himself, a nervous smile stretching across his face.

"What- what was that." Bianca asked shakily, eyes flicking to the back of the room, where the Fury's wings were visible for a time before disappearing to one of the other branches of the palace.

"That was Alecto, my servant and your caretaker." Hades explained warily, trying to gauge Bianca's expression.

"N- no. That- that's impossible. She, Alecto, was- she was a- a- a lawyer, who told us that our mom had given us custody to our dad in her will and they finally had- they had managed to track him down." Bianca stammered, pulling Nico closer to her body and trying to slowly creep backwards, trying to make sure that Nico got the message that he wasn't quite understanding.

"I'm your dad, Bea," Hades whispered consolingly.

"Don't call me that," she snapped.

"Look, I get that it's hard to believe, but I'm your father- Hades, God of the Underworld."

Bianca froze, ignoring Nico's talking, hands shaking and eyes darting uneasily as she took a few more steps back. "You- you're all crazy. Gods aren't real."

"You can do things, can't you, Bianca?" Hades tried a different approach, trying to get through to her and have her understand that they were in danger, that Hades was they only way they'd be safe. Meanwhile, making sure to do it silently so that Bianca wouldn't notice, he created a dome surrounding him and Bianca so that Nico's talking wouldn't disturb their conversation.

"I-I don't have to talk to you. I've- I've called the police, and they're gonna be coming here soon. You'll go behind bars and I'll find my _real_ dad, not a crazy maniac like you."

Ignoring the pain her words caused him, Hades looked at her in the eye, absentmindedly noting that they were black, like Hades's, unlike Nico's chocolate brown ones that resembled his mom's. "You can call shadows to your will. You can see spirits and ghosts, can't you Bianca di Angelo?"

Trembling, Bianca's hands closed like steel around Nico, disrupting the dome, ignoring her brother's cry of pain. "How do you know what my name is?"

"I'm your father," Hades said, as though he was expecting that statement to solve all problems.

"No you aren't," Bianca debated, but her voice sounded weak, as though even she didn't believe it.

Hades smiled, reaching over to see Nico, "I haven't seen you two since Nico was barely born," he whispered, "You've both grown so much."

Bianca flinched, before looking at Hades. "Did you mean what you said? That you're- you're the god of the underworld?"

"Yes, I am the god of the underworld," Hades said, dropping the mask of manipulation, "I can teach you to control your powers, you two could be safe here, in my palace."

Bianca gave small, tentative smile, before faltering and turning to look at Hades accusingly. "What do you mean, 'safe here'? Are we in danger?"

Hades bit his lip, unwilling to tell Bianca. "There's something I- I must tell you."

* * *

Percy shivered, pulling his massive coat over him. Courtesy of Nyx, Damasen had gotten quite a bit of real clothing for Percy to wear, including the fur coat which the said toddler was currently trying to stick his arms through.

"Let me help you," Damasen said, forcing himself to remember to speak in English. Yesterday, when they'd visited Nyx, she had promised to get some help for Percy to learn Greek, and Damasen was readily waiting for that day. Percy humphed in annoyance, but stood still, fidgeting with his hands as Damasen wrapped the fur around Percy, deciding to ignore the armholes- there was no way Percy's hands would fit in there anyway. Damasen, after quickly propping Percy up on the massive couch, walked over to the kitchen to cook a quick meal for the two- Nyx would have to wait. After throwing in some herbs and some of Damasen's last rations of drakon meat, the fiery stew simmered on the make-shift stove, the heat warming up Damasen's frigid body. The 'water' part of the stew was actually liquid from the River Phlegethon that Damasen had been unwilling to give to Percy before, not wanting him to get burned with the stew. Now, however, he didn't want the boy to die from dehydration, and it couldn't be helped.

Bowls, carved out of one of the many carcasses Damasen had lying around his hut, were ladled with the stew with a bone spoon, and Damasen carefully walked over to the room where Percy was staying, blowing on the bowls of stew so that Percy wasn't burned.

"I must admit, your senses aren't quite as sharp as they used to be."

Damasen jumped in surprise, almost dropping the bowls as he looked in astonishment at Nyx, who was sitting next to Percy, Percy leaning against the Goddess of Night, sleeping peacefully.

"How- When-" Damasen stammered, carefully setting down the bowls on the table.

"Not long after you left this room, if I'm correct."

Damasen licked his lips before opening his mouth once more. "I suppose I should wake up Percy?" he asked.

"Let the child sleep. There are several things I must discuss with you, before we begin his training. We didn't get much time to speak yesterday." Nyx gestured for Damasen to enter the kitchen once more, and he did so, ducking his head as to not knock it on the doorway.

"What more business do you have, Nyx?"

Nyx took a breath, surveying the kitchen, not facing Damasen as she spoke again. "Understand that I am not to be, nor will I pretend to be, a mother to Percy. I will make sure that he isn't foolish, and I will train him as though he is my own, but understand that I am not his mother."

Damasen grimaced, Nyx's declaration feeling like a blow to the gut. Of course, when Damasen went to see Nyx, he hadn't expected her to act as a mother to Percy- all he wanted was someone to advise him on how to act. Yet when Nyx had said that she would meet Damasen soon, he couldn't have helped but feel hope- Percy missed his mom, and here was someone who was perfectly suited to fit the role. Obviously, Nyx wasn't thinking as Damasen was when she had said that.

"I understand." Damasen nodded weakly.

Face visibly relaxing with relief, Nyx smiled, now fully turned, facing Damasen. "I also have other business to attend to, and I won't be here often."

"That's- that's good for me."

"And lastly, who is Percy's godly parent?"

Damasen faltered, wincing. For the past week, he had been asking himself the same question, but couldn't come up with much- Percy was sleeping, and the few times he was awake, he didn't do much, like call lightning or bring up skeleton armies.

"I- I don't know."

She turned to look at him, raising an annoyed eyebrow. "You don't know?"

"I'm trying to find out, but he isn't giving any dead giveaways."

Nyx nodded slowly, turning to leave the kitchen. "Wake up, Percy!"

«∙»

Nyx walked into the room, her eyes quickly assessing the situation. _Percy is only a child, three at the most. I can't train him in using his skills, unless I wish for him to injure himself. Teaching him to control his powers is out of the question, as we don't know what they are._ She turned to look at Percy, watching with narrowed eyes as he woke up blearily, tiny fists struggling to pull his body out of the mountain of fur surrounding him. With a wave of her hand, the excess fur from Percy's coat disappeared, the jacket now perfectly tailored to fit his body. _Nyx_ was written in Greek on the bottom of the jacket in swirling letters, telling anyone who found Percy that he was under Nyx's protection.

Damasen quickly followed Nyx into the living room, visibly more somber. Part of her felt a bit sad for being the reason Damasen felt that way, but it couldn't be helped.

"Shall we eat first?"

Nyx glanced at the table where the two precariously placed bowls of stew sat, fire cooking the meat in them alive. "You wish to give Percy water from the Phlegethon?"

Damasen walked forward, answering as he picked up the bowls, sitting next to Percy to spoon-feed him. "Percy cannot die because I hadn't given him water- not when there are many, _many_ more dangers to be protected from."

Understanding where he was coming from, Nyx gave him a simple nod to show she approved before sitting on Percy's other side, slowly moving Percy so that he was sitting on her knee, Nyx unconsciously keeping her knee still to keep him awake. "Eat, Percy," Nyx said, switching to her slightly fluent English. Percy turned to look at her with a smile, before Nyx carefully moved him so he could see Damasen, holding the bowl nervously.

Percy opened his mouth at Nyx's request, and Damasen carefully took up some of the stew in a shoddily carved spoon, moving it to his lips. At the last second, Percy's eyes widened when he saw what was being given to him for 'food', and shut his mouth adamantly, the spoon stopping millimeters from his face.

"Percy, you must eat," Nyx urged. Percy shook his head, closing his eyes and wrapping himself closer into his jacket. Damasen looked at Nyx with a question in his eyes, trying to figure out what to do next. Ignoring him, Nyx took the bowl from Damasen's hand, grabbing the spoon before dipping it in the stew once more.

"Come, Percy, drink." Nyx moved the spoon in Percy's direction, and Percy's eyes flew open, childish anger making them seem to glow. The stew in the bowls- both of them- slowly rose before falling back down in the bowls with a loud _splash_ , flying everywhere.

Silence ensued, Damasen looking at Percy with wide, unbelieving eyes, while Nyx's eyes narrowed, trying to figure out who's child Percy was.

"By the gods," Damasen whispered, "No wonder he survived so long without water."

The revelation hit Nyx a second later, and she looked at Percy, eyes flashing and a smile forming. "He's a child of Poseidon."

* * *

Bianca's fingers shook, and she mentally ran through ways to escape this circus of crazies. _I could distract him. Pretend I believe him. When he's talking I could run,_ she mused. Nico, seeming to understand what was going on, continued to talk off Bianca's ear aimlessly, narrowed eyes darting around the hall in wonder.

"Did you mean what you said? That you're- you're the God of the Underworld?" Forcing herself to put as much trust as she could into her voice, Bianca looked at Hades hopefully, allowing her voice to waver and fingers to shake.

"Yes, I am the god of the underworld," Hades said, the silky sweet smile on his face dropping into a real one. Bianca wasn't sure which side was fake, all she knew was that she wouldn't let this man get a hold of her and Nico.

"I can teach you to control your powers, you two could be safe here, in my palace."

Bianca allowed a small smile to grow on her face- the idea that she could be safe, that there would be someone to protect her and Nico, was tempting, she had to admit. Yet, what was he protecting them _from_? "What do you mean, 'safe here'? Are we in danger?"

Hades faltered, and a small part of Bianca felt bad for manipulating him like that, but it had to be done.

"There's something I- I must tell you."

 _Jackpot._ Bianca forced the smile threatening to grow on her face down her throat, and put an expression of distrust on it instead- it wasn't that hard to do, seeing as how she didn't exactly like him.

"Wh- what?" she stammered.

"You two aren't supposed to be alive."

"Yes- yes we are," Bianca argued, feeling slightly miffed at what Hades said.

"No, you aren't. A long time ago, some of my children got into a... _argument_ , for lack of a better word, with some children of Zeus and Poseidon, resulting in the infamous World War II. We decided that our children were too powerful for their own good, and Zeus and Poseidon took a vow on the River Styx to not have any more children. As I lost the war, they forced me into talking the oath. You and Nico were born before the war, however, and they wanted me to kill you both. As I didn't want to kill my own blood, I hid you two in the Lotus Hotel and Casino, where you would never age. After some current events took place, I decided to take you guys out of the casino."

 _What?_

"That's impossible," Bianca stated with raised eyebrows, rolling her eyes. "I'd like to leave now."

Hades looked at her. "You never believed me, did you? You wanted to play me, and leave."

 _There goes that._ Bianca forced herself to adopt a face of indifference, although her knees were shaking, and her heart felt like it was pumping a hundred miles a minute. "Yes, so what?"

Without answering, Hades looked at Bianca, and suddenly shadows gathered around her, faces appearing in them and leering at Bianca. Nico squirmed uncomfortably in her hand, and Bianca covered his eyes and ears, unwilling to let him see this.

"I have the same powers you do, Bianca, and the powers Nico will have. Please, _please_ understand." As he was speaking, the shadows pulsated towards Hades, before he disappeared before her eyes and reappeared behind her, having her swirl around to try and see him. Faces appeared in Hades's clothes, and his size grew until he touched the ceiling, and he morphed into a screech owl that landed on her shoulder.

Mind spinning, Bianca let out a gasp when the owl flew off her shoulder, flying into the air only to morph into Hades again. Of course, it could've just been magic tricks, but Bianca knew that they weren't- after all, she could do many the same things, and she didn't have the faintest idea on how to do magic tricks.

"Do you believe me now, Bianca?"

Bianca took in a shaky breath, and was surprised to find that she _did_ believe him, that she _did_ think that he was speaking the truth.

"Y- yeah. Yes, I do."

* * *

 **So yeah, this was chapter 5! Sorry for the late update, I didn't have my laptop so I wasn't able to write out the chapter and get it edited before/on Saturday :(.**

 **Anyway, 17 reviews last chapter guys? Ya'll are amazing, thank you guys so much! You're really the reason why I'm so focused on this fic :)**

 _DaughterOfIris23:_ Ohmygod, thanks Jade! Honestly though, you write really well too! :)

 _aesir21:_ ooh, thank you for giving this fic the time and checking it out!

 _aesir21:_ Yeah, I gave Hades a POV to show you guys his thought process and why he did what he did :) As for Poseidon, He's been there for Sally, but he won't be making a lot of appearances to her, especially now that she's in SF.

 _aesir21:_ Thanks! I tried not to make them too OOC, but one can only hope *shrugs*

 _aesir21:_ Yeah, a lot of people shared the sentiment, so I went back and edited it, and stopped writing in Greek only...

 _aesir21:_ I'm planning on Damasen being Percy's father figure/someone he can trust, and as you can see in this chapter, Nyx blessed him with her protection.

 _mylifeisogre:_ aww, thanks! Yeah, I googled a lot and worked Percy's personality from the books, plus how Sally might've raised him and how he reacts to stuff from TLT. Hopefully you liked this chapter!

 _whycan'tIfindanamethatfits:_ There's definitely going to be some major character developments, and probably a lot of things that stray from canon, seeing as how he's in Tartarus :) Thanks!

 _whycan'tIfindanamethatfits:_ Fight scenes are my kryptonite, so it's nice to know you liked it!

 _whycan'tIfindanamethatfits:_ I must admit, I never thought that someone might end up crying at my emotional scenes, I never really thought that they'd be well-written enough... So thank you so, so much!

 _ChocoChomper:_ Lol, thank you! Well, as revealed in this chapter, they're not in the Casino anymore, instead they're in Hades's palace! Nice to know you're back, hope you like this one!

 _Tiredofthisbs:_ There's definitely going to be more of Percy's training later on, when he's older, but as of right now this chapter was mostly dedicated to finding out the godly parentage.

 _Guest (Guest):_ Yeah, there might be a huge fight, but I personally think that Hades or Poseidon are of equal power as Zeus, though as you said, in canon their powers are downplayed a lot- I probably won't do that, or if I do there might be a reason for that.

 _whycan'tIfindanamethatfits:_ Yea, as I've said to aesir21, I've fixed that with the newer chapters and edited 'fatherhood'... it was definitely a lapse of judgement on my part...

 _whycan'tIfindanamethatfits:_ thanks! glad to know you liked it :)

 _Guest (Guest):_ The first sentence definitely made me chuckle for some odd reason :) There's going to be a lot going on later, and there will definitely be something coming up later with Tartarus, though I don't know about Erebus... Thanks!

 _Guest (Guest):_ Sally/Paul probably won't end up happening (unfortunately), but as for a new, Roman Neptune/Sally demigod... well, you'll just have to wait and see. But yeah, seeing as how this story is wildly different from canon, there's definitely going to be a lot of things happening that just couldn't happen in canon :)

 _drash25:_ Thanks! The hellhound scene was one I'd planned the second I'd decided to have Nyx be a major character in the fic, glad to know you liked it!

 **And yeah! As you guys probably know, the ages in here are drastically different from canon (talking about Bianca and Nico), but seeing as how they left the casino early their age calls for that. Anyway, thank you guys so much for your support, see you next chapter!**

 **-Lauren Swan**

 **(P.S.: Please follow, favorite, and review!)**

* * *

 **Edit (January 13, 2019): Some reviewers have informed me that the oath on the Styx was made after WWII, not the Civil War. Thanks for telling me, it's fixed now :)**

 **Edit: (January 20, 2019): A reviewer informed me that the age gap between Bianca and Nico was incorrect when I wrote it, so I fixed it :)**


	7. The Lost Boy

Chapter VI  
 _The Lost Boy_

Percy closed his eyes, hands twitching as he tried to call upon the power inside himself, waiting to be unlocked. At eight years old, most kids would be in second grade, learning cursive and running from cooties. Percy, however, was learning how to use his power over liquid as a weapon, and to fight with the grace and effort of a professional fighter- or, at least, that was his goal. Obviously, as a eight year old, he couldn't get there, but he was trying.

"You can feel the energy inside you," he heard Nyx's voice say, the Greek now easy for him to understand, rather than just the thrown-together sounds they seemed to be when he had first landed in Tartarus. "It's a lake, and you want to bring up the water, the power. Take in a breath, close your eyes, and stretch your senses. Where is the cup, Percy?" Percy took in a breath, following Nyx's instructions, feeling something almost marble-like in his gut, energy emitting from it. He carefully seemed to touch the marble, and his hands thrummed with power as his senses expanded, and suddenly it didn't matter that he couldn't see- his power made up for it.

He could sense the fog in the air, thick and humid, and the water-based sludge that helped the roots in the swamp grow. He could feel liquid from the river Phlegethon in a cup, inside the house and in Damasen's hand, which was also the goal of today's cool-down exercise- be able to sense and control water without looking at it, over long periods of time and over a stretch of land. Percy carefully twitched his fingers, vaguely aware of Nyx watching him and observing his actions. He felt the fiery liquid in the cup bubble at his command, and with a careful clench of his fist, the liquid rose in the air for a minute, a minute and a half, two minutes, before it finally fell back into the cup, no longer at Percy's control.

"Open your eyes, Percy," Nyx's voice called. He carefully opened them, and took in a deep breath before looking Nyx in the eye.

"How did I do?" he asked nervously.

A smile from Nyx as Percy's only indication that his Greek was improving, Percy waited anxiously for Nyx's decision- as this was supposed to be the last training exercise of the day, if Percy did badly on it, or barely made average, they would have to train for another two hours before Nyx left.

After a beat of hesitation, Nyx shrugged. "Passable. Next time, however, I won't be so merciful."

Grinning, Percy shot her one of his signature, lopsided smiles. They both knew that next time Nyx would say those exact same words- and then the time after that, and the time after that, and the time after that, she would still say them. 'Next time' seemed to be synonymous with 'never' in Nyx's dictionary.

"Of course, Mom," Percy remarked absentmindedly.

Nyx froze, halfway to the entrance to the hut, waiting for Percy to notice what he'd said, and come up with some sort of excuse to back it up. Yet, when he didn't do that, she allowed a small, half-smile to grow on her face. It had been ages- decades really- since anyone had called her 'mom' like that. Like they meant it, like it wasn't just a title they were obligated to say. It was nice to know that Percy thought of her like that, even though the memory of her 'chat' in the kitchen with Damasen came back to her.

Nyx had clearly, adamantly, said that she wouldn't be a mother to Percy- she didn't seem to have factored in the fact that Percy would grow on her, with his crooked smile and contagious laugh. He was the child Nyx had always wanted, nothing like Nyx's immortal children, who had left Nyx as soon as they were born. And Nyx was never one to leave a child- a toddler, really- in need, her mother hen instinct kicking in as she helped raise and train Percy, blurring the line between a trainee and a son.

"No problem, Percy."

«∙»

As Nyx entered the house, she automatically made a beeline for the kitchen, the hunger in her stomach all-consuming as she searched Damasen's cabinets for a bit of food. Although Nyx was a goddess- a primordial, even- and normal food didn't even taste good to her, getting ambrosia or nectar was near impossible, so she had to make do with what she had. Which wasn't much, now that she thought of it.

"Hey, Skýlos!" Percy cried, his footsteps following Nyx to the kitchen. Skýlos was the hellhound that Nyx had given to Damasen, all those years ago, and it seemed that Percy hadn't liked Nyx's name for the hellhound, because as soon as he was old enough to be able to speak in full sentences, he had immediately renamed it. Skýlos eagerly traipsed into the kitchen, her pink tongue panting in the air as her jet-black fur brushed the top of the kitchen's doorframe, almost knocking over the table with her massive stature, at least the size of a truck.

"Ah, Percy. I assume that training went well?"

Damasen's voice boomed in the kitchen, and Percy jumped in surprise, Skýlos lumbering over to stand in front of Percy, trying to protect him from whatever was distressing him. Nyx, on the other hand, ignored Damasen in her quest to find something vaguely edible, her head half in a cabinet as she rummaged through it.

"Yes, Damasen," Percy commented, turning his attention back to Skýlos as he smiled, scratching the hellhound's chin.

"How do you have no food?" Nyx complained, reminding the two that she was still there.

"We didn't expect you to want to eat here. This food is enough for me and Percy."

Percy grinned shyly, "I'm going to go outside now, Damasen."

At this, Nyx froze, and her head immediately left the cabinet as she and Damasen both turned to look at him. "What do you mean, 'go outside'?" Nyx demanded, "there's no one to protect you, and you're tired from training. Sit and eat."

"I have Skýlos. And I'm not tired at all," Percy cried, having the stew in one of the bowls lift into the air, as to prove his point. "I've been inside for the past weeks, I'm bored!"

Damasen and Nyx looked at each other, seeming to have a silent, telepathic conversation before Nyx turned to Percy with a sigh. "Fine. But be back in an hour. And don't leave Skýlos."

"Okay. Can I go now?"

Nyx looked at Percy for a moment before waving her hand, Percy's current clothes now having Nyx's brand stitched into them, and a bottle of Phlegethon water attached at Percy's hip, something for him to call upon to fight with. "Just so that anyone you might run into knows you're under my protection. And another ground rule: if you stumble across a monster, don't run, don't fight, don't do _anything_. Just carefully find shelter and hide, call upon your power and use the bottle. Allow Skýlos to fight for you, and as soon as possible, _run_. Is that understood?"

Percy grudgingly nodded, but his legs twitched with the anticipation of actually being able to go outside without Nyx or Damasen looking at him every two seconds.

"You may go."

* * *

Kelli carefully walked across Tartarus's rough terrain, her metal leg dragging behind her as she lead a group of empousi to a demigod- or at least, something with a demigod's scent. And even if it wasn't a _real_ demigod who's scent they were tracking, Kelli had no doubt that she would still stumble across something worthwhile, that would get her clan off her back to take them on another hunt. After all, being the leader of any clan was exhausting. Being the leader of an empousi clan was even more so. And it didn't help that her clan was indebted to the territorial acephali, whom she would've had to go to war with if it weren't for the fact that she allowed them one request that her clan would be sworn to complete. Although the acephali hadn't called in their favor yet, it was only a matter of time. And Kelli was terrified to think of what the headless monsters would come up with.

"Kelli! Hey, Kelli!"

Said empousi turned around in annoyance, trying to ignore the fresh wave of perspiration that swept across her skin, her skimpy cheerleader uniform allowing the sweat to break through the cloth. If it weren't for the fact that Tartarus had _horrible_ lighting, Kelli would've been mortified.

"What is it, Taylor?" Kelli muttered, rolling her eyes as she looked in annoyance at the newbie empousi that had just joined Kelli's clan, the clan now officially full with twenty members.

"It's Tammi," the empousi said, bubbling with enthusiasm Kelli knew would be diminished after a couple centuries or so of killing mortals and monsters alike.

"Anyway," Tammi continued, "I was thinking, why doesn't our clan have a name? Cause I was thinking it could be super badass or something if we were called 'The Avengers', and then like when we killed people we could leave an imprint or something. Doesn't it sound cool?"

"Didn't Marvel copyright 'The Avengers'?" Another new empousi, Claudia, questioned with curiosity, her voice so low that it barely reached Kelli's ears.

Raising her hand for the clan to stop walking, Kelli let out an annoyed breath, turning to look back at the group. "Rule number one of this clan is that you never, _never_ start talking in the middle of a hunt for something as stupid as a clan name-" at Tammi's ostracized look, Kelli rolled her eyes. "Yes, a clan name is a stupid reason. Number two is that you don't give dumbass comments like that one, Claudia, when I'm annoyed. Number three is that you never, ever address the clan leader if you aren't spoken too. In this case, the clan leader is me. And in this case, I'm not feeling particularly merciful."

"Give the girls a break, Kel. They've only been here for what- three months?"

Kelli turned in annoyance at her second-in-command, Maddy, and rolled her eyes when she found her decision changing at Maddy's raised eyebrow. "They should know better." Kelli debated, although she could almost _feel_ her resolve crumbling when she looked at Maddy.

"You were just like them," Maddy singsonged.

The clan leader let out a sigh, before turning to Claudia and Tammi. "This is your last chance. One more mistake and you guys will be kicked out."

"We apologize, Kelli," they chorused in unison, having Kelli shake her head and continue to walk forward, the rest of the clan taking this as their cue to continue walking as well.

After a minute (or an hour), as the clan came across wisps of red fog slithering across a swamp, Kelli finally spoke. "We do have a name, Tammi. We just don't give it out to newbies, who might leave and tell others of our name. Names have power, and if someone knows the name of our clan, we are at their disposal to do as they wish. Therefore, the only people that know are name of this clan are it's members, not it's νέος, who have sworn on the Styx to never tell of the clan's name."

A murmur broke out between Tammi and Claudia, who were the only ones who hadn't been entrusted with the clan's name- they were the only νέος, or young ones, of the clan.

"What's the name, Kelli? We won't tell, Tam and I are pretty secretive, ya know."

Kelli shook her head adamantly, refusing to give the gossips the name of the clan.

"Weren't you going to make them official members after the hunt anyway?" Maddy asked, Claudia and Tammi letting out a small squeal when they heard that.

"You were?" They cried out.

Rolling her eyes, Kelli glared at Maddy as she spoke to the νέος. "You must swear to not tell anyone, under any circumstances, no matter the language, the clan's name."

Claudia and Tammi both murmured the oath, finishing it off with an 'I swear this on the Styx.'

After Kelli heard thunder rumble overhead, even though they were thousands of feet under Olympus, she finally told them the name. "We're the Δαίμονες από την κόλαση in Greek, the شياطين من الجحيم in Arabic, the Демони от ада in Russian. In English, we're the Daemons from Hell."

* * *

Percy walked across the swamp, the itch at his side begging him to walk further than the familiar rows of roots and moss that he'd seen every day for as long as he could remember. And yet, the mental image of Nyx and Damasen's disappointed face when they realized what Percy'd done was enough to curb his impulse to walk further than the swamp. Skýlos padded alongside Percy, knees bent as she tried to make herself smaller than she actually was, allowing Percy to keep his hand on Skýlos's back, running his fingers through her soft fur.

The further he walked, the smaller Damasen's hut seemed to get, until Percy was enveloped on all sides with the red fog of Tartarus, allowing him to barely even see two feet in front of him. Percy began to slowly hum to himself, trying to calm the nerves that were saying something was very, very wrong. The back of his neck prickled, and Percy carefully slowed down, feeling his fingers twitch as he tried to call upon his power- which was surprisingly easy to do, compared to how long it took in his training exercises. Energy thrummed in his veins as Percy sensed the fiery water in his bottle rise at his call, ready to be unleashed at anyone- or anything- that might want to attack him.

Next to him, Skýlos bared her teeth, a low growl coming from the back of her throat as she moved closer to Percy, eyes scanning the fog. Percy tried to figure out what the odds of winning would be if he fought in a swamp- it was one of the first fighting classes he'd taken with Nyx, to learn how to asses your situation any time you were fighting. Closing his eyes, Percy carefully took a step, trying to judge how deep the muck was, when he realized that he was no longer _in_ the swamp. The ground under his feet felt solid, no longer the cushion-like substance that Percy was used to training in.

After trying to re-trace his footsteps, Percy's breaths came faster as he realized that he didn't know where he was- that he was lost.

" _Hello, demigod,_ " he heard someone hiss, their voice snaking out of the fog. Skýlos walked out further, claws extended as she approached the area that the voice seemed to have come from.

" _Oh, you have a dog? How..._ sweet _,_ " the voice said again, this time from behind Percy. The son of Poseidon screwed his eyes shut, not able to understand what those lilting, mocking sounds meant, but feeling a familiar ache at the back of his head- that he should understand this, that he could have once understood this. Trying to ignore that, Percy carefully uncapped the bottle at his waist, the fiery liquid from the Phlegethon lifting in the air before mimicking Percy's clenched fists.

A loud _whoosh_ was heard through the fog, and the Phlegethon water twisted in the shape of a blade, now a weapon for Percy to use. A monster slithered out of the fog, ratty red hair hanging around her face in folds, casting shadows across her sunken face. Her torso was bare, a thin sliver of cloth the only thing wrapped around it as she outstretched her arms in Percy's direction. Percy trembled, his hands shaking slightly as he saw a metal leg dragging across the ground, her other leg cut off to a stump, bone sticking out from it with it's edges sheared off. A knife in the monster's hand, she walked toward Percy with a pronounced limp, her body convulsing as she reached arm's length of him.

Fighting the urge to vomit, Percy shakily held his fiery knife in front of him, all his training seeming to leave him as he cowered on the ground. The monster put a hand on Percy's shoulder, her skin stinking of rot, and Percy flinched, hands shaking as the monster raised her other hand, the one holding the knife, and aimed it to Percy's chest. Suddenly, a pitiful cry from behind Percy had him spinning around, out of the monster's grasp, just in time to see Skýlos collapsing to the ground, a blade sticking out of her leg as froth gathered at her mouth.

" _Skýlos!_ " Percy cried, leaving himself vulnerable and unguarded as he ran toward his trusty dog, his faithful companion. Not a second later, he heard something whistle through the air and felt something stab his back, pain lancing through his body as Percy collapsed to the ground. Eyes fluttering, the world seem to spin as his vision finally went dark.

* * *

 **Dun DUN DUUUUUUUNNNNNNNN**

 **Please don't kill me? This idea was the brainchild of Writer, which we agreed would be the perfect opportunity to introduce a new character to the story and spice things up a bit :) The idea for the clans was actually a headcanon I've had for a while, and when I was writing this I realized that it would be the perfect time to write it in (and add in a little easter egg for later in the fic, but you never heard that from me :) )  
**

 _UxysRaze:_ Yeah, I've gone back and edited the chapter... also, yep! There was one it here itself :)

 _Natsu vi Kurosaki:_ I've gone back and fixed it, thanks for pointing it out :)

 _DreamCatcher06:_ Aww, thanks! Hopefully this chapter lives up to your expectations!

 _whycan'tIfindanamethatfits:_ That was a spur-of-the moment part I included, and I really liked it, so nice to know you did too! Also, there's definitely going to be more Bianca and Nico scenes later on, especially considering how there's the Great Prophecy and everything, and Hades would want his kids to be the heroes of it.

 _Guest (Guest):_ Lol, I now have that mental image stuck in my head :) Also, yes, you're right. He'll probably play a bigger role later on in the story, as if I introduced him right now it would be kinda useless.

 _drash252:_ Thanks! Yes, they're definitely going to be crucial to the plot and how it progresses... there's going to be a major Hades and Bianca scene coming up, so look out for that :) Yep, as they left the casino earlier than canon, their ages had to have changed too. Glad you liked Nico, I wasn't sure if I was writing him right :)

 _OnlineOverlord15:_ 'Semi-fixed' :) I try to update on Saturdays, but sometimes the schedule gets in the way and I have to end up posting it on Sundays. Anyway, thanks!

 _Anonymous (Guest):_ Yea, Nyx now knows how to train Percy, and he's not getting out of being trained anytime soon :). As mentioned in HoH, I think Bob (Iapetus) said that time in Tartarus is different than time in the mortal world. As for the age gap, I wasn't sure when I wrote it- thanks for pointing it out to me, I went back and fixed it. As for Bianca's death, as this differs from canon she probably wouldn't be dead in five years, but there is going to be something major coming up, that has her at the center of it. Hope you liked this chapter!

 _mylifeisogre:_ I feel like a lot of people didn't expect Nico and Bianca to come into play, tbh, at the amount of comments that were based solely on that :) As for the prophecy, you're just going to have to wait and see

 _Mal:_ ooh, I can't kill the most angst-ridden characters in the series! ...well, I can, but I don't think a lot of people would like that :) Justice might be served, but if it did happen I might not do it necessarily that way.

 _aesir21:_ Tbh, at first I thought it was WWII, but then I wasn't so sure so I changed it to the Civil War... which now that I think about it, was probably the CJ/CHB war. No, the change wasn't intentional, it was an error on my part that got edited. Also, as of right now all Percy has is Skylos, whom I absolutely adore, especially considering how I don't have a dog...

 _SageofChaos:_ Here's the next chapter- I hope you like it!

 _brodylopa:_ I think I might have misunderstood the comment, but if you're talking about who Percy is ending up with there will be a pairing. As I actually took the idea for this fic from Writer, she had a set of guidelines for me to follow as I wrote this- not particularly controlling ones, but one of them was for the pairing that Percy would end up with. Hopefully the romance in here won't be shitty or rushed, but who knows?

 _Guest (Guest):_ I'm not saying that Hades is justified for what he did, I'm just trying to explain his thought process to show why he did what he did. Although Poseidon and Zeus did subject Hades to some mockery, there will be something coming up for Hades soon.

 **And that's it! I'm not sure if the writing in this chapter is my best, but I hope that you guys liked it :)**

 **-Lauren Swan**

 **(P.S.: please follow, favorite, and review)**

* * *

 **Edit (February 1, 2019): I've been informed by a reviewer that what I had written down as "Bulgerian" was actually "Russian". I've fixed it now, thank you for commenting!**


	8. Hazy Lines

Chapter VII  
 _Hazy Lines_

Kelli walked forward, feeling a pain stab at her side as she trudged through the seemingly endless expanse of Tartarus's rusty red rock, her legs groaning from the exertion. Behind her, Claudia and Tammi were carrying the limp body of the demigod- a son of Poseidon, probably, judging by how he was able to conjure up the water from the Phlegethon without any struggle. Although the child was barely more than eight, it took longer than she had expected to subdue him- she even had to play the 'zombie monster' card to get him to stop fighting, and although Kelli had adjusted her appearance back to normal, she still smelled like she had just stepped out of a cemetery.

Gods, how long had it been since Kelli had even been _inside_ a cemetery?

She was supposed to be the ultimate empousi- the one that other empousi were told fearsome tales of, the one that everyone revered and respected. And yet, she had drowned to death the last time she was in Gaea's realm. _Drowned_. And it wasn't even an epic tale of her fighting a demigod, who had eventually pushed her to jump off the New York Harbor. No. Instead, Kelli had been walking out in a freak storm a few years ago, and a wave had crashed onto the harbor, dragging Kelli into the water and keeping her there until she disintegrated into a pile of sand. The only reason she hadn't reformed yet was that the sand particles hadn't disappeared yet, as they were still somewhere in the ocean, unable to reach Tartarus. And until Kelli was whole- all of her, including the most minuscule pieces of sand, she couldn't leave Tartarus.

Now, walking alongside her clan, she couldn't help but notice the uneasy murmurings that followed her, the shifty eyes and the too-long hesitation to follow some of the simplest orders. It didn't take a genius to figure out that her clan was getting jumpy, anxious for a new leader, a _better_ leader. It seemed as though they'd all but forgotten what Kelli had done for them in the past- they wanted results, they wanted vengeance, they wanted torture, and they wanted it _now_.

That was probably why Kelli had decided to momentarily spare the demigod- if she brought it back to their home base, the empousi would appreciate hearing screams and pleads of mercy fill the air rather than the crackle of meat cooking on a fire. And that would guarantee her as leader of the clan for a few more months, until they became restless once more. _I'll cross that bridge once I get to it_ , Kelli mused softly.

Suddenly aware of a light press to her shoulder, Kelli turned around, only to see Maddy gesturing with her eyes toward Tammi and Claudia. The two had the demigod slung over their backs, his body forcing them to walk side by side as sweat dripped down their faces in rivulets. And yet, there was a certain sense of camaraderie between the two that simply hadn't been there when Kelli had recruited them a few months ago. The thing was, Tammi and Claudia were to be Clan Sisters, if they managed to join- they'd go on missions with each other, would train with each other, and would eventually grow to consider each other as family.

When Adriana was the the leader of the clan- the first leader, in fact, Kelli had barely even been considered for recruiting. After all, Kelli had been barely a century old, young and innocent, with no blood on her hands or sins on her soul. Finally, when Kelli had proved her worth to even join the νέος, Adriana had assigned Maddy to help Kelli train, as she needed the extra help. The bond that had been created between the two was now unbreakable, and when Kelli became leader of the clan she immediately created the Clan Siblings.

Now, seeing that Tammi and Claudia were slowly forming the kind of relationship that few mortals could achieve made Kelli smile- at least there was one thing that was going right.

Sharing Maddy's grin, Kelli fist-bumped her second-in-command before continuing to walk, this time with a bounce in her step that hadn't been there before.

«∙»

Striding through the doors of her clan's lair, Kelli heard the other members of the clan quickly follow her through the door, Tammi and Claudia heading over to a wing of the lair to put the demigod in a cell.

"Everyone, you're excused."

The clan fidgeted, some gravitating toward the demigod's body and trying to see who he was, while others clumped together, eyeing Kelli and chatting to themselves.

"Kelli, the kid has Nyx's symbol."

Everyone froze at that, weaving their way away from the demigod fearfully, looking at Kelli with a glare in their eyes. "You never told us he was under the goddess's protection," one spat.

The information spun in Kelli's mind, and she forced a cocky smile on her face. "Nyx can't do anything to hurt us unless she has proof that it was us who hurt the demigod."

"Who says that she doesn't?" Another empousi asked.

"As far as she knows, we're under the instruction of the acephali, and so we're just henchmen. She'll hurt the acephali if she even notices he's gone."

"We're bringing the demigod to the acephali?" A cry of indignation rose at those words, and Kelli raised her hand, trying to console them.

"No, no we're not. That's what we want Nyx to think."

"So she's going to think that we're servants? We're not servants, Kelli." The empousi who said that was the same one who had said that the demigod had Nyx's mark, and Kelli felt like she was going to strangle her.

"You've all been excused. Go to your rooms," Maddy called out, trying to relax some of the tension.

After hearing Maddy's voice, the clan began to break apart, their cries of protest quickly silenced as Kelli gave them her death stare, some reluctantly heading to the housing wing while Tammi and Claudia headed over to the cells, carefully carrying the demigod's body.

"Thanks for that."

Maddy raised a smug eyebrow, lips twitching with a smile as her brown eyes flashed with amusement. "Thanks for what?"

Sighing, Kelli shook her head. She wasn't sure what she was glad for, exactly. All she knew was that today had been different compared to most other days, and if it weren't for Maddy, Kelli probably would've went crazy. "Am I not allowed to tell my girlfriend 'thank you'?"

Maddy laughed, rolling her eyes before leaning in to give Kelli a quick kiss. "I guess, but you really owe me one."

"Of course I do."

* * *

Percy woke up with a start, something seeming to stab at his head as his body cried out in pain. He lifted up a hand, reaching up to touch his hair to feel for any wounds, only just realizing that his hands and feet were handcuffed, a long chain connecting the two before leading out and connecting to the wall behind him. His jacket, tunic, and water-bottle, all bearing the sign of Nyx, had been removed, replaced with a hastily woven black tunic that looked like a three-year-old had sown it.

Another stab of pain racked his body, and Percy tried to let out a groan before he felt rough cloth scratch against his mouth, leaving him with the conclusion that he was also gagged. It seemed that his kidnappers, whoever they were, hadn't wasted any expense on him, even though his eyes were still opened- obviously, they didn't consider him being able to see his surroundings as a threat. Not that Percy could actually _see_ anything.

Although his eyes had adjusted to the dark, all he could make out was the dull sheen of his metal handcuffs, and the dry red of the crumbling brick wall. The corners of the room were cloaked in shadow, and the only other interesting part of the room was the iron door on the wall left of Percy, the door barred and seemingly unlocked.

Letting out an annoyed sigh, Percy rolled his eyes before slowly getting to his feet, his limbs crying out in protest after ages of disuse. Ignoring them, Percy stumbled his way over to the door, his chain slithering along the floor as he approached the door. Upon closer inspection, Percy noticed that the barrier looked like it was welded into the wall- literally. The edges of the door, where there would normally be hinges of some sort, were melded in seamlessly with the wall, and the bars placed on the door seemed useless. When Percy looked through the bars, all he saw was yet another iron door- as though the bars were just there to raise Percy's hopes before destroying them again.

But that didn't mean that Percy was completely helpless. After all, he still had his powers- and Percy knew _exactly_ what to do with them. The bricks were made out of mortar, which was already crumbling. If Percy poured some water on the wall, in a couple of hours the wall would be entirely destroyed, and he would be able to get to Damasen and Nyx within a day. Yet, the entirety of the plan made him uneasy- for people who had managed to kidnap him, and made sure that he wouldn't know a single thing about who they were or where he was, it seemed all too easy to escape.

Shaking his head to try and get rid of the worry, Percy closed his eyes before stretching out his senses, trying to find any water, any liquid that would help him. For a moment nothing happened, and the worry crawled back up his throat, when suddenly he felt the familiar marble in his gut, his senses now expanding across the walls to search for anything to help him escape. After a long moment of silence, feeling nothing other than the useless, minuscule fragments of humidity in the air, Percy suddenly found himself with something... different.

This liquid- or whatever it was called- was thick and sticky, a mud-like substance that Percy was barely able to sense. And yet, energy hummed through it, as though whatever the liquid was, it was _alive_. Acting on a whim, Percy took in a breath and then clenched his hand, knowing that whatever liquid that was, it would follow what he was doing. A moment later, after perspiration broke out on his forehead from the effort of controlling that liquid, Percy heard a scream echo down the hallway, loud and horrified and in _pain_.

Heart shuddering, Percy stumbled back as he heard footsteps thunder down the hall, crouching down against the wall just as the door seemed to melt away, opening up to the hallway. In front of him, he saw a gaggle of monsters in the shadowed entryway, each of them sporting matching scowls, eyes glinting dangerously when they spotted Percy's huddled up form.

One stepped out further into the room, allowing Percy to see her clearly, and his heart beat faster when he realized that these monsters were his _captors_. "What did you do to her?" Her voice cracked with grief, and he noticed the tears streaming down her dark skin, blue eyes puffy and brown hair tangled and matted.

Percy frowned, trying to ignore her words even as guilt crawled its way up his body, reaching out for anything to help him. Energy flowing to his fingertips once more, he was overcome with feeling, his hand thrumming with a repetitive beat as the murky liquid that he'd controlled earlier flew to his call. Taking in another breath, he noticed how the dark-skinned monster froze, staring at him.

"What are you doing?" Her body set into a fighting stance, and acting on instinct, Percy thrust his hands out, the handcuff limiting the energy behind his blow- but it was still enough to stop her. The monster's body began to convulse, and froth grew at her mouth, blood seeping out of the scarred line connecting her flesh to her metal leg. She fell to the ground, and the other monsters flooded the room, some walking to Percy, trying to restrain him, while the others crowded around the girl.

Yet Percy was frozen, breath shortening as he saw the monster's body lying on the ground, the other's trying desperately to wake her up. _I killed her,_ he thought, hands shaking and fingers twitching. _I killed her I killed her I killed her, oh gods I_ killed _her. I killed her friend too. I killed everyone, and then I'm going to kill the others too. I'm a murderer, I_ killed _them._

Panic overwhelmed Percy, and he barely noted how the monsters were picking up a needle, bringing it up to his neck, his eyes fluttering shut as he could almost feel blood on his hands.

 _I killed her._

* * *

"What the hell happened back there, Kelli?"

The head of the clan flinched at the empousi's accusation, already preparing an argument in her head, turning around to look at the crowd of empousi in their meeting room. The absence of Tammi and Claudia was noted by everyone, and Kelli couldn't help but take in a sharp breath when she saw their empty chairs at the table.

As soon as those words were spoken, the room began to fill with threats, shouting over each other to demand _why wasn't the demigod better guarded?_ and _how did you let Tammi and Claudia die?_

"Silence, Silence!"

Maddy's voice echoed throughout the room, and there was finally quiet, although glares were still shot toward Kelli, a bad feeling growing in the empousi's stomach.

"There. Now, let's begin this meeting."

Once those words were spoken, an empousi Kelli recognized as Elizabeth stood up, the signal that the floor was hers, and that no one else, not even Kelli, could interrupt her until she was done.

"Wha' was goin' on back there, Kel? Tam and Claud died 'cause you decided to kidnap a demigod instead a' killing him immediately. If you didn' do that, we would've had 'em here righ' now." As soon as she was done talking, the burly empousi sat back down, and Kelli immediately stood up after- now was as good a time as any to begin to talk.

"I know what you all are going through. Tammi and Claudia were important members of our clan, and I greatly miss the-"

"Then why didn't you save them, huh?" The voice jeered out suddenly, and although Kelli was standing, she wasn't the only one speaking. Voices filled the room once more, and although Maddy was trying to stop it, she was pushed to the side by Elizabeth.

"You're her girlfriend, you're biased. If you weren' datin' her, you'd be on our side, so stay outta this."

Maddy's eyes widened and she moved to stand next to Kelli, just as one empousi's voice rose above the rest.

"You don't need to be our clan leader anymore! You killed Tammi and Claudia!"

For a brief moment, there was silence, and Kelli felt her hopes rise- they _had_ to know how important she was to the clan.

Yet, another empousi called out, "Down with Kelli!" Before long the room was filled with the chant, and Kelli felt her skin burn, flames flickering on them as the crowd of empousi grew closer together.

Looking next to her, Kelli shot Maddy a look, hoping that she understood what Kelli was about to do. After seeing Maddy nod slightly, Kelli twisted her head just as the crowd of empousi was about to reach her, bursting into flames and disappearing.

«∙»

 _Whoosh._

Kelli reappeared miles away from her clan's- no, it wasn't her clan anymore. She reappeared several miles away from _the_ clan's lair, the musty wind of Tartarus whipping at her face and casting her red hair behind her as her fiery eyes surveyed the area. Gods, she couldn't believe all that had happened- in the span of one day, she'd gone on a hunt, found the first demigod to ever be in Tartarus, lost two clan members, and then was forced out of her home by those she considered family. The weight of those words sank in, and Kelli began to walk, trying to forget. It wasn't easy, thinking about that.

Even as she strode across the hot ground, anger bubbled up in her- they were her family, her clan, the people who she'd risen from the ashes and made to be the most dangerous of all the others. And then they'd thrown out Kelli. They'd left her in the ashes.

And yet... if it weren't for that idiot demigod, none of this would've happened. Sighing, Kelli absentmindedly pulled up her hair, trying to think about anything that could've shown how powerful the demigod was. After all, no son of Poseidon could do _that_.

Feeling her fingers twitch, Kelli shook her head. No matter who the demigod's parent was, he was dangerous. And seeing as how the clan would probably take out their anger on Maddy, there would be no one stopping the clan from torturing the demigod and causing him to lash out, or turn him into a weapon. Rubbing her face, a plan slowly came to Kelli's mind and she stopped walking, taking in another breath. It was bad, and not at all ideal, but she would be reunited with Maddy, and be able to take Maddy away from the clan.

The plan was simple, straight, and to the point- Kelli would save the demigod.

* * *

 **Hey folks! I'm so sorry about the long wait for this chapter, I had some family stuff going on and couldn't find the motivation to finish writing this chapter. It's here now though, and I hope you guys like it! There's a lot of foreshadowing going on in here, if you look in the right places (and there's also something connected to a hint I dropped in the last chapter), and next chapter'll probably be split in half- one continuing this story arc, and the other starting the Bianca and Hades story arc I mentioned in the last chapter.**

 _mylifeisogre:_ Lol, I'm sorry! Here's the next chapter, hope you like it :)

 _drash252:_ The chapter title is actually courtesy of Writer, because I can't make a good chapter title to save my life :) but anyway, I'm a fan of the MCU (not a major fan, but I love the movies), so I decided to drop the reference. There will probably be some momma bear!Nyx in the next chapter, but it might be the chapter after that, depending on how quickly the plot progresses :)

 _DragonEmperor01:_ Thank you!

 _DaughterOfIris23:_ No spoilers Jade :)

 _Mal (Guest):_ Well, I was referring to the canon series, but there'll be something going on in the Bianca and Hades story arc that'll be there soon enough :) No, I haven't forgotten about that, I'm just setting up the backstory of the fic. In several chapters we'll reach what happened in TLT. I'm not quite sure if I like the whole 'an eye for an eye' thing, but there will be some drama going on.

 _DreamCatcher06:_ It was my first major cliffhanger in the fic, so there's that. Also, I'm so sorry for not updating sooner, but as said in the A/N, I had some stuff going on... but here's the very late chapter!

 _aesir21:_ True, but I'm a fan of this headcanon so I had to include it :) Also, thank you for pointing that out, I'm not very fluent (really, I can't say anything) in Russian or Bulgarian, so I went back and fixed it. Thanks!

 _whycan'tIfindanamethatfits:_ Lol, you'll have to wait and see :) Here's the next chapter, hope you like it!

 _MrMan2242:_ Yea, Percy's opinion on the gods will probably be nurtured and cultivated, but as of right now he's kinda indifferent toward that. Also, this is my first time writing something that differs so much from canon, so I'm glad that it's working out well :) Here's the next chapter!

 _Anonymous (Guest):_ Yeah, that's what I was thinking, but in that moment the time was slower. There will definitely be a pairing, but whether or not it's Percabeth, you'll just have to wait and see :)

 **Thank you guys again, and once more, sorry for the super late update!**

 **-Lauren Swan**

 **(P.S.: Please follow, favorite, and review!)**


	9. The Escape Plan

Chapter XIII  
 _The Escape Plan_

Bianca strode through the halls of Hades's palace, a small smile on her face when she saw Nico walking next to her purposefully, a long way from the insecure kid he'd been five years ago. Of course, he still played Mythomagic, and definitely wouldn't be considered outgoing by any social standard, but he wasn't worried to even start up a conversation with a stranger anymore.

"What are you looking at?"

Nico's voice was annoyed, and Bianca chuckled. Nothing, not even Nico's glum tone, could make her mad today. After all, it was her birthday- and after spending decades in the Lotus Hotel and Casino, she was determined to make the most of all of her birthdays. In the past, Hades had allowed her a glimpse of the mortal realm, an entire day spent entirely to catering to her every need, and had given her art lessons, among other things. Of course, the glimpse of the mortal realm was Bianca's favorite gift by far, but the art lessons were a close second.

"Fine then, don't answer me," Nico grumbled.

"Aren't you happy, Nico?" Bianca's voice was light and airy, sounding nothing like the voice of most other fourteen-year-old's.

"Should I be?" The rhetorical question had Bianca letting out a laugh, mussing up Nico's hair after he asked that as she smirked and gave a little twirl in the hallway.

"Come, dance with me!"

"What?" Nico looked horrified at the idea of dancing with his older sister, but Bianca just chuckled, grabbing Nico by the wrist and spinning him in the hall. "Have fun in your life! Dance!"

And with that, Bianca began to hum a lively tune, a grin on her face as she watched Nico frown and try to leave, only to be snatched back by Bianca and to have his hands wrapped around her waist, Bianca's arms holding Nico's shoulders. They both swayed in the hall, and a tiny, reluctant smile grew on Nico's face as he danced with his older sister, until both of the brother-sister duo were humming and laughing, their steps odd and halting and yet holding much more emotion than that of any experienced dancer.

"Oh, I didn't know that there was a dance party!"

Nico and Bianca's heads both turned at the new voice, only to see Persephone standing in the hallway, a laugh plastered on her face as a crown of thorns wove its way through her white-blonde hair.

"Join us, Aunt Seph!" Bianca cried, and lifted an arm from Nico's shoulder to invite Persephone over. Hesitating for a moment when she saw them, Persephone carefully shook her head and waved Bianca off.

"No, I must get to Hades. But you two... continue with your dancing!"

Persephone carefully inched her way through the hall, and turned back to look at the skeleton guards that shadowed her every move. "Remind me to get the two dance lessons later," she murmured with a roll of her eyes.

 **«∙»**

"Lady Persephone."

The guard that announced Persephone's stayed silent for a beat before leaving, Hades and Persephone now alone in the long hallway.

"Hades," Persephone acknowledged curtly. After Hades had allowed Nico and Bianca to stay in their palace without any warning for Persephone, she hadn't talked to him for the rest of her stay. And the couple's relationship was still strained, especially as Nico and Bianca had begun to call her 'Aunt Seph', even though Persephone went out of her way to avoid the kids. She hadn't even _seen_ them until after one month of their stay.

"I- I don't understand- don't understand why you're- you're still mad at me."

Hades's voice was confused, lonely, quavering, and it took all of Persephone's self-control to not wrap Hades in a hug and tell him that everything would be fine, that she didn't hold a grudge, that she was just being angry. Because this had all happened before, and before that, and even before that, and every single time Hades had said those exact same words, only to go back on those words again.

"Because you have kept these- these children alive for so long, and then you bring them into our palace, as though you seem to forget that your wife lives here as well."

"You aren't even here for half the year. My children deserve to live, Persephone, they deserve to be heroes!" Facade dropping, Hades shook his head and began to pace, already feeling the emotions that had been plugged back for so long begin to spill. The long-awaited argument was finally happening, and Hades wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

" 'They deserve to be _heroes_ '," Persephone mimicked bitterly, letting out a harsh scoff. "As if there weren't hundreds of, thousands of, other options out there. As if the daughter of Zeus- what was her name, Thalia? As if Thalia wasn't just as worthy of being a hero. As if the boy you threw into _Tartarus_ wasn't worthy of being a hero."

"Zeus and Poseidon are far from worthy- their children could never fulfill the prophecy. And Bianca is much more capable than a pine tree and a dead body."

"Bianca? The girl barely understands what war is. And you want to have her fight the Titan of Time himself?"

Hades laughed when he heard Persephone, and turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow. "Do you not see the bigger picture? She- no, _we_ will have glory! The gods will finally recognize us as more than just servants, we will have _respect_. And there will be no one, no foolish, upstart demigod to steal Bianca's fame!"

" 'We' will have respect? I already _have_ respect, Hades. It is you who is a coward, a thief, a liar, you who Olympus looks down on."

"I don't deserve to have to look down anytime I see Zeus, as though I'm not his older brother, as though I'm not his elder, as though I didn't help overthrow Kronos," Hades seethed.

Biting back a response, Persephone shot a scathing look when Hades said Kronos's name, her sharp green eyes darting around the hallway as she tried to make sure that the overthrown king wasn't lurking about somewhere in the shadows- you could never be too cautious.

"Don't say his name," she hissed. "And you would still have some semblance of respect in Poseidon _and_ Zeus's eyes if you hadn't killed their children! Do you know how foolish that was? Did you think about the consequences of doing that? No, you just wanted vengeance, didn't you, Hades?"

"I _deserve_ vengeance, Persephone. Don't act as though I am the villain here. You know that I deserve a throne on Olympus, not a palace in the land of the _dead_."

Persephone looked at Hades before shaking her head. "I don't understand why you act like such a monster. You are not the same person you were millennia ago, Hades, don't try to pretend like you're still the same. You've changed, and not for the best."

 **«∙»**

 _You've changed, and not for the best._

Those final words echoed in Bianca's head as she ran down the hallway corridor with worry in her eyes, trying to find Nico before something happened to her brother, before he was subject to being thrown into Tartarus. She couldn't think clearly, not with those biting remarks by Persephone and Hades swimming around in her head. And while Bianca wasn't the one on the receiving end of those words, nor was she even meant to _hear_ those words, they couldn't be taken back.

Hades had done something big, something horrible to make sure that Bianca and Nico would live- or, more correctly, that they would be heroes. He'd _killed_ demigods in order to have Bianca be the only one able to fulfill some so-called prophecy, in order to have Bianca regain Hades's lost respect. And while Bianca might've once cursed Olympus for doing something like that to her seemingly wonderful father, now all she could think of was the fact that she and Nico needed to leave the palace. Immediately.

"Nico! Nico!" Her voice echoed through the halls, and she tried to ignore the questioning, worried looks that the guards and servants sent her, instead hurtling to Nico's room as fast as humanly possible.

When she finally arrived there, she only saw Nico laying on his massive bed, music blasting from every speaker. "Did Hades say yes?"

Heart thudding in her chest, Bianca's head shook as she remembered the reason she had followed Aunt Se- Persephone: Bianca and Nico had wanted to host a ball, and needed permission to do so. But after overhearing Persephone and Hades's conversation, a ball was the furthest thing from her mind.

"No. C'mon, we need to pack!"

Quickly catching on to his sister's change in attitude, Nico sat up worriedly, brows furrowing. "What's going on? Are we going somewhere?"

Faltering as Bianca tried to make sense of the vague ideas of a plan floating around in her head, Bianca quickly closed her eyes before opening them again. "Yes, we're going to the mortal realm."

Nico paused before grinning ear to ear, fist pumping and laughing out loud. "Yes! Was this your birthday present?"

"No, and Persephone and Hades don't know about this trip. We need to leave _now_."

"They don't- they don't know about this? How are we going then?"

"Shadow Travel."

Gripping the bedpost as he swung off the bed, Nico raised an eyebrow at Bianca. "I don't know why we're leaving here, and don't you need to know where you're going in order to shadow travel there?"

"We see the mortal realm twice a year, and each time we see something different. One of those places is bound to be safe."

" 'Safe'?" Nico echoed. "Why would we need to be safe?"

Snatching out and grabbing Nico's shoulders, Bianca forced Nico to look her in the eyes, and said the words slowly and carefully so that Nico didn't miss anything. "Hades and Persephone aren't who they say they are. They are dangerous, and we need to leave."

"They're dangerous? But they're so nice! Aunt Seph always talks to us, and Hades always gives us stuff, and-"

"Nico, they _murdered_ two demigods. One was thrown into _Tartarus_. We need to leave. Now."

Nico froze, horror setting into his face. "They couldn't have," he whispered weakly, but the look on his sister's face was enough to tell him that she wasn't joking, that this wasn't a game.

"Pack, we'll leave in ten minutes," Bianca's voice was firm, telling Nico that this wasn't up for discussion. "We'll meet at the gargoyle statue in front of the Great Doors." Biting her lip, Bianca pulled Nico into a hug, and took in a shaky breath. "I love you, Neeks."

Burrowing his head in Bianca's shoulder, Nico closed his eyes. "I love you too, Bi."

 **«∙»**

"We need clothes, food, money, cloth- I already said that..." Letting her voice trail off, Bianca paced the length of her room, trying to think of anything that she and Nico would need for their little 'trip'. It was strange, intimidating to think about leaving the palace, leaving what was once her home. The purple bag on her bed was almost bursting with the amount of things in it. After all, Bianca was used to being waited on for most of her life- she didn't know what to bring with her.

Shooting another glance at the clock on her wall, Bianca took in a breath and looked around her room, with its purple walls and silver lights, with the worn black couch and the walls marred with dents and scuffs. If all went well, this would be the last time she would see the room- and she wasn't sure if she could live with that.

 _Get it together, Bi._

After rolling shoulders to get the kink out of them, Bianca grabbed her Stygian iron knife, the last thing that she needed before she left. Giving a last, forlorn glance to her room, she walked out the door, hearing it slam shut with a sort of finality behind her.

Gripping the bag tightly, Bianca carefully walked out of her room, making sure that no one was around as she crept across the halls, making her way over to the gargoyle statue. When she finally reached the statue with nothing other than odd looks from the guards who knew better than to disturb her, Bianca took in a breath and let it out, closing her eyes nervously. Nico wasn't there yet, and she felt the familiar worry gnaw at her stomach, letting her know that there was a high probablity that something had happened to Nico, that he hadn't believed her, that he wasn-

"Hey. Bi."

Bianca's head immediately turned to the source of the noise, her neck cracking at the sudden activity while her eyes opened and glowed with relief when she saw Nico. Although he was dressed in a cheesy, all-black outfit like the people in the movies did, it was better than not seeing him there at all.

"You're here!" Bianca hissed back, and Nico walked up to her with a nervous smile.

"Let's go."

Grabbing Nico's wrist, Bianca closed her eyes, and the two disappeared in a cloud of shadows.

 **«∙»**

"Where are they!"

The sound of the angry God of the Underworld sent all the skeleton guards into a frenzy as they all stood to attention, the god's cape billowing past him when he walked into the throne room.

"Where are Nico and Bianca!"

"My lord, I-"

"Silence, Mercutio." With a wave of his hand, the skeleton guard that had spoken burst into a pile of ash that quickly turned to nothingness.

"Where did they go?"

The guards that were in charge of protecting the palace- and more importantly, the guards in charge of protecting the di Angelos all stood to attention, the rest of the servants quickly scurrying out of the room to avoid Hades's wrath. The remaining skeletons began to talk at once, their overlapping voices growing too loud to Hades's ears, his eyes flashing a red as every other being in the room found themselves unable to talk.

"That's better. Where are the di Ange-" voice cutting off, something occurred to Hades and he raised an eyebrow. "Where is Persephone?"

When no one spoke, Hades let out a low growl. "I'll say it again. Where. Is. Persephone."

"I'm here, Hades. There is no need to take your anger out on your poor guards, who can't even speak."

Spinning around, Hades was face-to-face to his wife in only name, seeing Persephone's green eyes inches from his own. Taking in a breath, Hades turned to the dead bodies that were crowded around in his room. "You are dismissed." The remaining guards left as fast as they could without seeming rude, and Hades turned to Persephone again. "You took them."

The goddess of Spring raised an eyebrow. "Took whom?"

"You- you took Bianca and Nico!"

Laughing, Persephone rolled her eyes. "What use would I have to kidnap Bianca and Nico?"

"You were angry that I had my children in the palace, and you were jealous," Hades's hands shook with anger, and he glared at Persephone. "You didn't kidnap them. You _murdered_ them."

"I'd be careful of who you were pointing fingers at," Persephone said in a lilting tone. "After all, I'm not the one who threw a toddler into Tartarus, or sent an army of monsters after a twelve-year-old."

"You _killed_ them."

"I really think we should be more careful of where we hold our conversations, don't you agree?" Persephone's eyes glinted with something like madness, and a horrible feeling churned in Hades's gut at the conversation so reminiscent of the one he'd held with Poseidon.

"What did you do."

"Oh, _I_ didn't do anything," Persephone began. "But poor Bianca, who'd just wanted to ask her father permission to hold a ball. Imagine her surprise when she eavesdropped on a conversation and found out that her sweet, wonderful father was a killer."

Hades let out a half-strangled gasp, the pieces already fitting together in his mind.

"Of course, she simply _couldn't_ allow her and Nico to continue living in a place where their father, a murderer, roamed the halls, so she'd shadow traveled into the mortal world with her brother."

"She- she what?"

"I did say to not allow them those glimpses of the upper realm, but who's to say no to you?"

"Leave," Hades cried, and Persephone, deeming her work done, quickly vanished and left behind the faint smell of wet roses. After seemingly ages, Hades walked out of the room, and turned to his guards.

"I have mission for you..."

* * *

 **Hey guys! I know that I promised that part of this chapter would be dedicated to what was going on in Tartarus, but as I was writing this, I got a bit carried away... the next chapter will probably be entirely focused on what's going on in hell :) This is the beginning of the Hades/Bianca story arc that I was talking about, and before you guys say anything, yes, there is more on this coming up soon, probably in the 10th chapter. Anyway, I just have a question: do any of you guys draw fanart? Because I'd really like to get a better cover image than the one I currently have...**

 _DreamCatcher06:_ ooh, that part is something that's been preplanned from before the prologue was even posted :) And yea, Kelli didn't get a lot of canon time so I thought that it would be cool to explore her character in this fic :)

 _mylifeisogre:_ there are reasons for that that will definitely be explained next chapter, and thank you!

 _aesir21:_ Bloodbending will actually be kinda important later on... as for what happens with Kelli, you're just going to have to wait and see :)

 _Keranovi (Guest):_ Oh wow, thank you! He will definitely tie into the Titan and Giant war, but you'll just have to wait for the next updates to see what'll happen :)

 _Anonymous (Guest):_ Yep, bloodbending is definitely going to be more explored later on :) And yea, the angst is already starting to set in... plus, Percy can't really control his emotions that well, as seen in the past chapter, so he would definitely lash out. Oh, I guess that I hadn't clarified in well enough, so I went back and edited it, but it was meant to be Kelli wondering exactly how powerful Percy was, as most children of Poseidon weren't able to control blood.

 _Celine Ariadna Evelyn:_ Ohmigod, thank you so much! And yea, Hades is a pretty big jerk :)

 _Guest (Guest):_ Kelli and Maddy will definitely meet Percy, but if they become friends or not is the million dollar question, isn't it :) And thank you!

 _Darkshot123:_ Oh no, I love frequent reviews! I sort of excites me anytime I see a frequent reviewer, just because I know that I haven't done something really stupid, or that I've done an unexpected plot twist or something :) And while I assume you were looking for this '~', those weren't weird sentences at all :)

 _whycan'tIfindanamethatfits:_ Thank you! I like to know that the plot twists are good :)

 **And that's it, see you guys next chapter!**

 **-Lauren Swan**

 **(P.S.: Please follow, favorite, and review!)**


	10. Darker and Deeper

**Warning: Themes of suicide and depression are mentioned in the chapter. If this is triggering for you, please skip the section of this chapter that begins with '** Silence. All that there was was silence. **', and continue reading at '** Maddy wasn't sure what she was doing. **'**

* * *

Chapter IX  
 _Darker and_ _Deeper_

Kelli's arms ached, her muscles straining against her as she struggled to lift the boulder in front of her, the red rock seeming to mock her when a lock of her similarly colored hair swept in front of her face, covering her eyes and forcing her to let go of the boulder. Now, the boulder might not have been that big of a problem if it weren't for the fact that it was the only thing blocking her from getting back to the lair where Maddy was staying- and, by extension, the demigod. And Kelli needed to get there immediately to make sure that Maddy was safe, and to keep the demigod from being turned into a formidable weapon for the clan- with the demigod's powers, it wouldn't take long for the clan to realize his value, and Kelli needed to get the demigod before they figured out what he was worth.

Swearing under her breath, Kelli took a step backward and let out an annoyed sigh, rubbing her hands together before trying again. This boulder wouldn't be the thing that stopped her. She wouldn't allow it- not when her reputation was already destroyed, left in tatters when her clan threw her out. And judging by how loudmouthed the clan was, it wouldn't be a surprise if half of Tartarus already knew that she'd been exiled.

"Let's do this," Kelli muttered, cracking her knuckles before sprinting toward the boulder. Her body turned to the side at the last minute, her shoulder hitting the rock with a loud _crack_ as rubble fell from the sides of the narrow passageway.

"C'mon, you stupid rock!"

Narrowly avoiding a piece of rubble that could've blown her brains out, Kelli crouched underneath a small alcove worn inside one of the passageway's walls, taking in another breath. _You could try firetravel again_ , her brain supplied.

"Yeah, like I haven't already tried that," Kelli grumbled, running her fingers through her stringy and matted hair as she tried to turn her body into flames, only to feel _something_ blocking her, leaving smoke smoldering at her fingertips without actually turning into fire. This had been her problem for the past hour or two, and Kelli was ready to leave and just give up on the expedition, hoping that Maddy would be able to get out of there herself.

 _One last chance._

Taking in a shaky breath, Kelli crawled out of the alcove and crouched down, ready to try and chuck the boulder across all of Tartarus, when-

"Who are you?"

Freezing, Kelli felt something touch the nape of her neck, cold iron cutting through her skin. She closed her eyes, mentally trying to think of who could be behind her- the voice was a male's, and power was behind it, so whoever it was could probably kill her in a heartbeat.

Good thing Kelli didn't _have_ a heart.

Grunting, the empousi twisted around and lifted her legs, defying gravity as she ran along the cliff wall for a moment before landing on top of the man, her weight on him having him topple over onto the dusty ground with a loud _thud._

She turned almost instantly, her body on top of the man's as she grabbed the man's fallen spear and leveled it above his neck, straddling him and making sure that he couldn't escape, her body racing to catch up with the past few seconds. "Who are _you_?" Kelli retorted, eyes scanning the man's body as she tried to find anything that would give him away.

Black armor was covering him up entirely, with silver flames running along the length of the Stygian Iron that made up his armor, knives and weapons hidden in pockets along his body. A metal helmet that looked like it came along with the armor was on his head, and a dark fabric covered the lower part of his face, leaving only the man's ebony eyes visible against pale skin.

The man let out a cruel laugh and grinned up at Kelli, raising his arm to lower the fabric on his face. "You don't recognize me, monster? I thought that I would've left a greater impression on you."

Flinching, Kelli frowned, her brain scanning to remember if she knew the assassin-looking man. The voice was vaguely familiar, but she couldn't even think properly- the _thing_ from earlier that had stopped her from firetraveling was pressing at her brain, and it felt like a thousand tiny men with hammers were pounding against her skull.

Trying to ignore the pain, Kelli noted with slit eyes that the man was moving at a snail's pace, body shifting to a position that would allow him to fight and overpower Kelli easily. She shifted the spear, making sure that he noted that she had it, before setting her shoulders and blocking him from moving again. Of course, it would be easier to just kill him, but she had to admit, the curiosity was gnawing at her- and she could always kill him after he said who he was.

"Why don't you give me the _honor_ of introducing yourself again?" All but spitting in the man's face when she said 'honor', Kelli raised an expectant eyebrow and awaited the man's response. Instead, the headache that she'd gotten seemed to flare up and Kelli found herself clutching her head in agony, the pounding growing until she couldn't feel, until Kelli wasn't even sure if she was _breathing_. It seemed endless, the pain. It was grabbing every inch of her, destroying her from the inside out, her body falling to the floor in torture.

"Hurts, doesn't it? You know, when I saw you trying to move that boulder, I was surprised- the great Kelli reduced to moving a boulder. And I must admit, I was tempted to kill you immediately, but it would be better to keep you alive, have you pay for your sins and all that, would it not?"

The pain seemed to lapse, to pause for a moment, allowing Kelli to hear the man's words but unable to understand them.

"Who- who are you?" She stammered out again as her voice seemed to fade, her body already curling in on itself, trying to be guarded from whatever attack the man would bring. Instead, all she heard was a laugh, and then the shadows imprinted on her eyelids seemed to grow darker, thunder booming in the distance as cold set into her bones, having her shiver in pain.

"Why, I am Erebus."

* * *

Silence. All that there was was silence.

Percy was positive he was going insane in the cell of his, with nothing but the darkness and occasional spider to keep him company. After the whole showdown with the empousi that had Percy guilt-ridden, he hadn't gotten any indication that there was any other life in the dungeon. He hadn't even gotten any food, and water was a far shot. His body was now as skinny as a twig, and if Percy had a mirror he'd be able to see just how dark the shadows under his eyes were.

With no light to help him see how much time had passed, he wasn't sure how many days had passed, if he'd been in the cell for hours or weeks. The manacles on his legs were blood-encrusted from his attempts to escape that had gradually stopped as time went on. Percy wasn't even sure if anyone would even remember him if he died.

The idea that Nyx and Damasen would- _might_ \- remember was the only thing that had stopped Percy from ending his own life. After all, it would only be too easy with the long chains and the bars at the door.

Of course, Percy wasn't even sure if Nyx and Damasen would even give him a second thought. _They're probably glad I'm gone. I killed someone. That makes me a murderer. I_ killed _someone. Only villains, only horrible people do that. They're probably laughing about how_ stupid _I was to think that they wanted me, that they loved me._ A coat of bitterness stained Percy's thoughts as he gave another longing glance at the chains lying on the floor, before shaking his head firmly and forcing himself to look away from them. _No, they'll remember me_ , he argued. _They love me._

 _Do they really?_ The voice in Percy's head had him slumping against the wall, forcing himself to take in deep breaths.

 _Why else would they rescue me when I was younger?_ Percy's defense was weak, flimsy, and he knew it.

 _They did that before they knew who I was,_ the Darker-Percy responded. _It would be better if they forgot about me._

He couldn't argue with the logic of that, no matter how hard he tried not to believe it. Grabbing the chain, Percy carefully lifted it to his neck, the training from Nyx already running through his head, her voice seeming to echo in the dark cell.

 _" The best way to strangle someone is to make sure that their muscles are relaxed, so that if they take in another breath the rope- or your hand- will have to stretch instead of sitting normally. Apply pressure to both sides of the neck to stop blood from flowing there, and keep strangling your opponent for five minutes _at least _, to make sure that they're dead. "_

Percy felt himself taking in a breath before letting it out, his arms wrapping the steel chain around his neck tightly, making sure to block Percy's windpipe so that he couldn't breath. While his left hand held the chains tightly, Percy's right hand was wrapped around his throat, making sure to stop the blood flow. Dark spots danced in front of his vision, melding in seamlessly with the cell's seemingly eternal night. Now to keep it there for five minutes.

Feeling his legs twitch, the son of Poseidon's lungs gasped for breath, begging him to let go of the chains and allow air into his body. Instead, Percy tightened his grip, knowing that the sooner this was over with the sooner Damasen and Nyx would be able to forget about him and go on with their lives. And yet... his energy being slowly depleted, Percy found himself instinctively reaching out with his power, trying to find some sort of liquid to allow him to breath. With his vision going dark and his head feeling fuzzy, he was barely able to stop himself from doing that- after he had killed, he wasn't willing to use his power again.

Hearing footsteps thunder down the hall, Percy found himself loosening his grip on the chains, body crumpling to the floor as he let out wild, breathy gasps, begging for more air. He wasn't sure why he hadn't gone through with it, why he hadn't made sure that the nonexistent guards would only find a dead body.

 _I'm not strong enough,_ Percy spat to himself, feeling shame flood himself as he crawled up against the wall, using the bricks for support to bring himself up. _I'm not even strong enough to rid the world of a sin. The footsteps weren't even real, they were probably fake. I'm so pathetic I'm_ dreaming _of someone to save me._

A loud _thud_ outside of his door had Percy laughing crazily, crumpling to the floor again as the laughs gradually turned to sobs and whimpers, his voice letting out cries for Damasen and Nyx. _Gods, I_ still _think that they love me, that they want me, that the-_

"Demigod! Demigod!"

* * *

Maddy wasn't sure what she was doing.

After Kelli had left in a pillar of fire, the meeting room had fell into pandemonium. They were screaming at each other, some even running out of the doors to try and hunt down Kelli- which was an impossible feat, if you asked Maddy. Of course, no one did, and the once second-in-command of the clan had watched as what was once the most feared band of empousi turn into yelling lunatics who would destroy the clan without Kelli's guidance.

But it didn't take them long to turn to Maddy, blaming her for Claudia and Tammi's death's. After all, she _was_ the second-in-command. And while Maddy probably could've stopped them, maybe even killed them, Kelli had trusted her to be able to sort out the mess. And Maddy wouldn't let Kelli down.

That was what had led to her getting a cell in the dungeons, stopping her from fixing everything, the cell right across from the demigod who had started the whole thing in the first place.

In her first few days of her solitary cell, Maddy had been trying to think of ways to get out of it, ranging from trying to firetravel out (which she was never able to master), to just destroying the wall of her cell and running out- which didn't really sound that smart in hindsight. After a while, however, Maddy had just given up, hoping that the rest of the clan would figure something out and retrieve her from the cell, or that Kelli would show up and bust her out of the dungeon. Neither option sounded that great after a while, which led to what she was doing right now.

"Demigod! Demigod!"

Maddy's Greek was rusty since she hadn't spoken the language in a while, but from what Kelli had said it was the only language the demigod had seemed to understand, so Greek was the language that she spoke. Her whisper-yell echoed in her cell, and all Maddy could do was hope that the demigod heard her. After a beat of silence, with no response from the demigod, Maddy tried again, though her whisper-yell now sounded more like an _actual_ yell.

"Demigod! DEMIGOD!"

A _clink_ could be heard through the doorway, and Maddy slouched in relief- the demigod heard her. Though, then again, it could just be that the demigod was moving. "Rattle your chain twice if you hear me."

The same sound was heard again, this time louder and repeating itself- twice. "You want to get out of here?"

Maddy's voice was loud, and if there had been any guards outside of either of the two's doors they would've been caught by now, but it seemed that the clan had decided that they weren't much of a threat, funnily enough.

A minute or two of silence later, the demigod's voice could be heard.

"Why do you want to help me?" His voice, timid and guarded, had Maddy biting her lip in worry for him. It had been easy to forget that the cell that the demigod had was magically enhanced to play to your darkest emotions, that it was covered in spells that would drive you crazy if you thought about anything bad that you'd done. And judging by how the demigod was probably barely older than ten, he was probably guilt-ridden about Tammi and Claudia's deaths.

Taking in a breath, Maddy closed her eyes, promising herself that she would get him out of the clan along with her, that she wouldn't just use him as a distraction and a weapon. If she left him in the cell, alone, at the mercy of the clan, Maddy wouldn't be able to live with herself. " 'Cause I-" _Don't tell him why. He won't be able to understand it._ "-I want to escape and I know you want to escape, and it'd be better if we were working together."

The next few moments seemed to stretch out for forever, and Maddy couldn't help but feel that the demigod would say no, that he wouldn't want to escape, that he'd rather stay here, that he wouldn't want to have to leave that little pocke-

"Okay."

For a moment Maddy didn't say anything, before letting out a breath she didn't even know she was holding. "Good, good... what's your name?"

This answer was faster, as though the demigod was glad to be able to say it. Which, Maddy supposed, made sense- he probably didn't want to be referred to as 'the demigod' every two minutes.

"My name is Percy." The de- Percy seemed to take in a shaky breath, before speaking again. "Who're- who're you?"

"I'm Maddy. Now, we have a lot to talk about."

* * *

 **I'm back! Please don't hate me? I'm sorry for the late update, but no WiFi, no laptop, and writer's block for half the week really doesn't help when you're trying to write a 3k word chapter... which this chapter still didn't make, sadly...**

 **But anyway! So this story arc turned to be longer than I expected, but I decided to introduce Erebus in this chapter rather than later, like I'd earlier planned. A lot of questions will be answered next chapter, which will (most likely, no promises) be split into one part of it continuing the Bianca story arc, one part following Kelli and Erebus, and the last part following Maddy and Percy. ...I feel like I had more to say, but I can't really remember...**

 _Matt (Guest):_ Yeah, but no at the same time... it's a twisted kinda love, the kind a sociopath/psychopath would have...

 _Darkshot123:_ It was a lot of fun to actually write the beginning of the chapter, actually, because I kinda wanted to show how their lives seemed so 'simple', but then all that stuff happened, so it was definitely nice to know that you saw that :) Um, so, that's classified info, but you'll probably find your question answered in one way or another in the next chapter :P

 _DreamCatcher06:_ Yeah, I was super excited to continue writing where I'd left off :) Percy may or may not meet the di Angelo's, you'll just have to wait and see :)

 _ChocoChomper:_ For some reason I was laughing for like five minutes straight when I read your comment (in a good way, of course :P) Kelli's loyalties was something I really wanted to experiment with in this AU, because there's a lot of opportunity to play with the character's when you can build them from the ground up. And yes, that was a tiny, almost miniscule cliffhanger, wasn't it ;)

 _aesir21:_ Bianca's definitely going to have to take a look at her priorities next chapter, so it's a good thing that they've been fixed, right? :) But as for what's going on with Persephone, you'll just have to wait and see :)

 _whycan'tIfindanamethatfits:_ Yay! You'll get to see what happened to them after they left Hades's palace next chapter (most likely, if I'm able to stick to my outline), and thank you!

 _Johnny Dough (Guest):_ That is the best way to describe it, in my opinion :) Thank you!

 **So I remembered what I had to say! If all goes to plan, the Bianca/Hades story arc will probably be completed in next chapter (well, the most important parts of it).**

 **Anyway, see you guys next chapter!**

 **-Lauren Swan**

 **(P.S.: Please follow, favorite, and review!)**


	11. The Second Look

Chapter X  
 _The Second Look_  


"Hide behind me."

Maddy's words were quiet, barely a whisper, and it took Percy a moment or two to even register what she said. Once he figured out what she meant, however, Percy slowly moved behind her body, pressing himself against the wall, his feet barely touching the ground. The maze that made up the clan's lair seemed confusing, even intimidating to Percy, with its looming walls, twists, and turns. Shadows danced across the floor, and though the passage was dark, save for the occasional patrolling empousi, the torches lining the walls made it the stuff of nightmares.

Somehow, Maddy seemed to know her way through the lair, and against his better instincts, Percy trusted her enough to follow her through the halls. As though Maddy had predicted it, however, an empousi with curly blonde hair and a well-rounded stomach walked into view, carrying a torch and knife with a practiced ease that had the butterflies in Percy's stomach flutter faster. Fighting back the urge to puke, Percy pressed himself even further against the wall, hoping that Maddy's strange magic would be enough to have them hidden.

Of course, the magic hadn't failed them the past three times they'd stumbled across a guard, but Percy couldn't help but feel nervous that _now would be the time that they find us_ , that _Maddy was lying all along and now she's going to hand me in_ , that _I'm going to be left behind in this hellhole and they'll torture me and kill me and hu-_

"Let's go."

Percy grimaced at the sudden noise, the spear in his hand hanging awkwardly at his side. Maddy had been quick to supply him with a weapon when they'd escaped, but she didn't seem to have considered that Percy wasn't that great at fighting with a spear. _At least it's not a bow and arrow,_ he thought with a chuckle. When he'd been training with Nyx, she'd made the mistake of having Percy try to wield the weapon. After he'd managed to accidentally have the arrow fly behind him, Nyx had given up, and deemed it useless to train him with a bow and arrow.

Luckily, the spear was something that Percy had shown relative proficiency in fighting with, and Nyx had him learn to wield it before she'd had him begin to train entirely with a sword. Compared to the rusty training sword Percy'd been using, the spear was amazing, with polished metal sharpened to a point and a wooden handle that was perfectly balanced and easy to carry. Unfortunately, no matter how great the spear was, nothing would replace a swo-.

"Hey, calm down!"

Percy finally noticed that it seemed as though, stuck in his thoughts, Percy had walked ahead of Maddy, without thinking of the consequences of exploring a strange place without scouting it out first. And yet, nothing that happened seemed to warrant that kind of nervous behavior from Maddy, with her wide eyes filled with worry and hands reaching out to him, trying to pull him back without actually moving. Percy raised a questioning eyebrow, looking at the ground in front of him. The floor itself looked normal enough, but he knew better than to push his luck. "What's wrong?"

Maddy answered immediately, taking a cautious step forward. "Get back here, now. That- that leads to the Labyrinth."

Oh. _Oh._ Fear leaped through Percy once more, and he all but ran in Maddy's direction, trying to get away from the Labyrinth as fast as he could. Although Percy'd never actually seen the Labyrinth, he'd heard the myths from Damasen, and Nyx had once mentioned offhandedly to never go in there. While that wasn't that horrifying, Percy'd always had an active imagination, and it didn't take much for him to conjure up what kind of monsters could be living in it.

When he was safely next to Maddy, Percy actually looked at the seemingly harmless section of hallway in front of him that looked exactly like the other hallways in the lair. Finally, his eyes landed on a faintly glowing blue symbol, one that would be easy to miss if he wasn't looking for it. The Grecian Delta, ∆, was on the wall, and Percy was instinctively reaching for his powers before remembering what they did and tightening his grip on his spear.

"Are you okay?" Maddy's voice was soft, worried, and her warm brown eyes were looking in Percy's eyes, a question in them.

Percy's voice was shaky when he responded, but he swallowed the lump in his throat in a futile effort to try and get rid of his anxiousness. "Yeah- yeah, I'm fine." At Maddy's raised eyebrow, Percy hesitantly continued, eyes darting around the hallway in nervousness. "It's just... why- why is there a passage to the _Labyrinth_ in here? Why would- why would you guys need it?"

Maddy faltered, her reassuring hand on his shoulder now tensed as her body locked together. "It's becau-" Pausing, Maddy licked her lips before gesturing for Percy to continue walking, knowing that they'd already spent too much time in one place. "Let's- let's go. We need to hurry up. I'll- I'll tell you later." He clearly didn't miss Maddy's hesitation to answer the question, but he knew better than to ask again- it must've been painful, and it wouldn't help to pry.

The two trudged through the halls in silence, and two guards later they found themselves in front of the Royal Room, where the new leader of the clan and the new second-in-command would be sleeping. Percy turned to look at Maddy with confusion as to why they were there, only to see the agony in her eyes- this was killing her. _Why didn't you notice that? She's leaving her home. Of course she'll be sad. How would you feel if you had to leave Damasen and Nyx?_

After waiting a moment, allowing Maddy to properly mourn her loss, Percy gently pulled on her sleeve, seeing Maddy look down at him with watery eyes, a silent tear staining her cheek. She nodded slowly, a sad smile on her face.

"Let's go now, shall we?"

* * *

A young woman, barely older than sixteen, walked through the rain falling to the ground in sheets, a younger boy clinging to her arm as he looked around the world with wide eyes. The young woman, Bianca di Angelo, seemed to ignore the chilling cold as she walked toward her destination, pulling Nico closer to her body when she noticed the hungry stares from the men on the sides of the streets- it hadn't occurred to her that the looks and whistles might be for her. After all, Nico had always been more important, and it wouldn't change in the mortal realm. Right?

"Bro, I'd totally fuck her without a condom."

Bianca faltered, turning around to look at the brown-eyed kid who'd spoken that, the kid licking his lips as he began to pull at his pants when he noticed that he had Bianca's attention.

"Hey bitch, wanna raise that dress, let us see some of that sweet pussy?" He began to laugh, high-fiving the other boy sitting next to him, raising an accusing eyebrow at Bianca which had her skin crawling with disgust and fear.

Biting her lip, Bianca shuddered and let out a shaky breath before covering Nico's eyes, stumbling into the sweet shelter of the hotel that Bianca knew to be a home of some sort in the mortal realm. She stayed on the sidewalk for another moment, trying to collect herself, before walking into the tall building, Nico faithfully striding by her side with innocent eyes that looked every which way in amazement.

Bianca, too, was excited by the mortal world- no matter how many portals or photos she might've seen, nothing compared to seeing it face to face, to being _in_ the mortal realm. She stopped walking a few feet into the entrance of the waiting room, eyes roving around the room as she tried to take everything in. There was a large wooden clock on the all, looking every bit as enchanting as she'd expected it to, velvet-lined couches crowding the inside of the lobby as people dressed in heels and carrying a bag of sorts walked through the hall with an air of dignity, of pride.

Setting her shoulders to try and mimic the posture of the mortals, Bianca strode up to the desk where other mortals were crowding about- it seemed to be the place to go to to get where you wished to stay. Odd looks were shot at Nico and her as they passed, but unlike the hungry stares of the boys before, these glances were confused, almost mocking. And truth be told, Bianca understood- after all, she and Nico were both dripping wet, and their clothes didn't seem to fit in with the crowd, with Nico's all-black outfit and Bianca's black nightgown.

"Next in line?"

Bianca jumped at the bored drone of the lady standing at the desk, shuffling forward to see her, Bianca's eyes widened with amazement at the strange black rectangle in front of the woman. It must've been a _laptop_ , something that Hades had pointed out on one of their views of the mortal world, but it looked so... _simple_ that Bianca was hard-pressed to believe that it could do anything. It was weird, almost outright magic, what the mortals could do now. When Bianca was still in the mortal realm, there was never a sheet of black that you could simply tap on to get things done.

"Welcome to the Hyatt Hotel. What can I do for you, ma'am?"

The woman's voice broke Bianca out of her trance and she turned to look at the woman, forcing a confident smile on her face. "Our room, please."

The lady sighed, raising an eyebrow as she turned to the laptop, a loud clicking noise filling the air before she turned back to them. "Names?"

This was something Bianca could answer without hesitation of doing something wrong. "Bianca di Angelo. My brother is Nico di Angelo."

Another _tap-tap-tap_ echoed in Bianca's ears before the woman turned to Bianca with a perfect poker face. "There's no reservation under that name, ma'am. Is there another name you might've put it under, or any other guests who might be joining you today?"

Bianca frowned, turning to look at Nico to try and clear her head. Those words meant nothing to her, not in that order, at least. Bianca knew Italian just as well as she knew English, and could speak Greek relatively well, even though she couldn't read or write in the last two languages. But even with that knowledge, Bianca couldn't figure out what the woman was trying to say.

"I'm sorry?"

"You don't have a reservation listed in the database, ma'am. I can call the manager to check, and we'll try to get you checked in as soon as possible, but right now you're holding up the line. Please wait in the lobby until the manager gets here. There's complimentary mints and water, and there's a cafe down the hall to your left. Thank you, and have a nice day."

With that blatant dismissal, Bianca's cheeks began to burn as she walked through the exit, knowing that the manager would never find their names listed in whatever the 'database' was. Even if Nico and she were the prince and princess of the Underworld, in the mortal realm they were nobodies. The rain outside seemed louder than before, and Bianca began to walk toward a bronze statue, forgetting about the boys that had been sitting there moments ago.

"Nice ass, Italy, wonder how it tastes."

The statement was followed by a whistle, but Bianca was numb to it all, instead a growing yell seeming to sound in her ears, pulsing against her skin as her limbs tightened and anger and desperation were sketched on the lines of her face. The yell grew louder, silencing everything, and when Bianca's vision turned white again she saw the boys running down the street in terror, their eyes widened with fear as they yelled 'demon' behind them.

"Hey, Bea, you- you okay?" Nico's voice was quiet, soft, and Bianca turned to look at him, only to see the beginnings of fear in her younger brother's face.

Her heart twisted when she saw that, reminding her that she was a monster, in her own right. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm- I just- I lost control, Neeks, I didn't mean to." Bianca's voice was wavering, quiet, and silence descended between the two as they continued to walk through the strange town.

 **«∙»**

 _Rain pelted the ground, the sky above Bianca dark, flashing with streaks of light before they disappeared. She was at the front of the Hyatt hotel again, but this time it looked deserted, with no one around. Bianca faltered, taking in a breath before taking a hesitant step forward, only to hear loud_ crunch _underneath her feet._

 _Looking down, she bit back a scream, seeing that her foot was going_ through _a human skull. Chest heaving with panic, Bianca saw that the ground was littered with dead bodies, each in varying states of decay. The cold seemed to press down on her, chilling her bones, like it was trying to remind her that Bianca would join those skeletons one day, that Bianca was very much mortal, no matter what she might've been told._

 _"N- Nico! Nico!" Her wild cries echoed in the night, with no one answering. "Nico!_ Nico _!"_

 _"I'm afraid that there's no one to hear you, Bianca."_ _A man stepped out of the shadows, cloaked in silver and black as a scythe was held firmly in one arm, the other reaching toward Bianca, as though he was trying to present her to an invisible crowd. Bianca stumbled backwards, trying to get_ away _from the man, only to see that she was pressed against a brick wall, cornered and alone._

 _She held out her hand with her palm facing the man, trying to feign confidence even though her terrified_ _expression told him everything he needed to know. "I am Bianca, daughter of H- daughter of the Underworld. Leave, foul creature, and go back to the depths of Tartarus from which you crawled out of." Bianca wasn't going to introduce herself as a child of Hades anymore- Hades didn't deserve that honor. But it didn't mean that the powers of the Underworld weren't still at her beck and call._

 _The man chuckled, and anger flared in Bianca's veins as she tried to call upon her power, as she tried to set an army of the undead upon the man. Instead, nothing happened, and the man smiled a smug grin as he lifted his head, allowing Bianca to see the molded silver mask that covered every inch of his face. He waved his hand, and s_ _hadows pressed in on Bianca, stifling her silent screams as they entered her lungs and took out all of her air, leaving her falling to her knees, scratching at her throat in a vain effort to breathe. What had once been comforting, almost friendly to her was now deadly and deceitful, stabbing her in the back as they killed her._

 _"Won't you fight back, Bianca?_ _What happened to the favored of Hades? To the wielder of the night?"_

 _His mocking laugh echoed around her and he stepped closer to her, placing his hand on her chin, his skin as cold as ice as his eyes glinted like flints of steel. He smirked at Bianca's terrified expression before letting go of her and standing up, lifting up his scythe before swinging it toward her in one deadly blow._

 _"All hail the Princess of Shadows!"_

 **«∙»**

Bianca woke up in a cold sweat, her flimsy nightgown doing nothing to protect her from the harsh wind whipping through the alleyway that she and Nico were sleeping in. Next to her, Nico continued to let out light snores, the worried expression on his face having Bianca's stomach twist itself into knots, threatening to have her puke out the measly dinner she'd had.

When she'd proposed the plan to escape, she hadn't thought about how _hard_ it would be. Bianca was used to living a life of luxury, and this... this wasn't what she had ever even had to experience. Of course, she knew that she'd once had to live through this, before she and Nico went to live in the Lotus Hotel and Casino. But even then, they'd always had enough food to go around, they'd had a _home_.

Now? She and Nico had nothing.

Fighting back the bile climbing up her throat, Bianca stood up and stretched, loosing hope of falling back to sleep after that nightmare. Even now, the shadows in the alleyway looked terrifying, evil, and Bianca found herself flinching away from them. The man with the scythe, the darkness, that cruel, cruel voice- she didn't know what any of it meant. All she knew was that the mortal realm was much more dangerous than it seemed.

And Bianca wasn't sure if she and Nico would survive.

* * *

 **Hey guys! I know I said that we would be reading more about what happened to Erebus and Kelli, but as it turns out, the Bianca/Hades arc needed a bit more time, so there's that... um, sorry? Hopefully next chapter will be dedicated to 2/3 Bianca and Nico, and 1/3 Erebus and Kelli. This chapter was a bit filler-y, but there were a few key plot points I had to introduce... I think this chapter is a tad longer than my other ones, so there's that...**

 **Also, so idk if you guys know this, but I'm working with a guy (known as M.J. Lyte on ff) on an OC story. I know, cliche, but ours isn't quite that. The account on which you can find the story is called TheSpartanInitiative, and the first fic in the series is currently being written, if you guys want to check it out or something. I've written 3 chapters of the first fic in the series (the prologue, and the two chapters in Marie's POV), but am writing most of the second fic in the series, so if you guys want to check it out that's cool, if ya'll don't want to that's fine w/me.**

 _mylifeisogre:_ Oh, thank you! It was actually kinda hard for me to write Percy's POV in the last chapter, just because I can't bear for him to be suicidal/guilt-ridden or something :( And Maddy and Kelli are actually really fun to write, so thank you again!

 _DaughterofIris23:_ Oh, so they're saving him because a) Kelli doesn't want the clan to turn Percy into a weapon, or for him to lash out and kill all of the clan, and b) because Maddy is just kinda sad about what happened to Percy. Sorry if you didn't understand it, I think I need to go back and look over my chapters again. But anyway, thank you!

 _aesir21:_ Well, Writer and I have changed the myth a bit to fit this AU, but you'll just have to wait until the next chapter to see exactly why he's there :)

 _Matt (Guest):_ Oh, no, it's fine! I know, Hades is a bit of a jerk in this AU :) Yeah, as you can see, the trouble's already started, and it isn't going to let up anytime soon :) Unfortunately I can't confirm nor deny that as I don't want to spoil it, but know that there will be a pairing that includes Nico.

 _a311243549:_ So I actually PMed you because the explanation would take too long to fit in here, but thank you so much! I know, the fics where Percy immediately gets over-powered/able to do anything make me kinda mad, so I tried to make this more believable :)

 _Dreamcatcher06:_ Maddy will definitely help him, and Damasen and Nyx w- I can't spoil that, but yeah, I hope so too!

 _Darkshot123:_ Thank you! I tried to make Percy's POV believable, and I really like the friendship/siblingship growing between the two :) Also yay! You found it! :P

 **And that's it! See ya'll next chapter!**

 **-Lauren Swan**

 **(P.S.: Please follow, favorite, and review!)**


	12. The Skeleton Ring

Chapter XI  
 _The Skeleton Ring_  


"I'd like the keys to my room."

Bianca's voice was confident, authorative, and the man sitting at the desk looked up at her with sleepy eyes.

"Look, kid, we don' have any 'ime for ya'll prankers. You kids these days don' have any respec' for us, thinkin' ya can go 'round and ge' anythin' ya wan'. Parents spoil ya, look where tha' brings ya." Finishing the statement off with a puff of smoke from his cigarette, the man looked back down at his table, propping his feet up before looking at Bianca again when she made no move to leave. "Ya didn' hear me, kid? Scram!"

Gritting her teeth to try and fight down the feeling of hopelessness growing in her gut, Bianca forced herself to look the man in the eye, trying to ignore the sheer disgust on his face- now, more than ever, she was glad that she'd prepared for this exact situation this morning. "Excuse me, _sir_ , but I'm legally allowed to rent a room here. I've filled out all the forms, have already had my credit score checked yesterday, and have already paid a down-payment. According to legal law, I should be given my room right now, and unless you want me to press charges, I'd suggest that you give me the keys."

The man seemed to do a mental double-take, and actually seemed to see Bianca for the first time, blanching when he saw the golden credit card in her hand. "Ya stupid kid, shoulda told me earlier. I'm Mickey, who're ya?"

This was it, the moment of truth. "I'm Natalie Sullivan."

For a brief, heart-wrenching second, Mickey stared at her in distrust as he pulled out a worn laptop, and Bianca found herself panicking, hands growing clammy and breath shortening as more and more doubts filled her head- _Mickey knows about the lie_ , _Natalie is already here_ , _He'll kick us out and Nico and I will starve on the streets and di-_

"Ya name Natalie Sullivan?"

Bianca nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat as she let out a shaky 'yes'.

"Age?"

Pausing, Bianca forced herself to scan her memory for the contents of the file that she'd found in the alleyway yesterday. "Twenty- Twenty-one." _Please let Natalie have kept her contract here and not move in here, please please please ple-._

"Anyone else movin' in with ya?"

"N- No." Well, according to Natalie Sullivan's contract, she would be the only one who was going to be living in the apartment. Of course, Nico would be staying with Bianca, but he didn't need to know that. Mickey gave her another, longer, look, before turning back to the laptop.

"Papers?"

Taking in another heavy breath, Bianca's hands shook as she gripped the files she'd found, forcing herself to look Mickey in the eye as she dropped the papers onto his desk. "Right here."

"Did Neil do the background check an' all tha'?"

This was the one thing that Bianca didn't know. According to the files, Natalie Sullivan had already turned in the application and was approved for an apartment- but as for what that entailed, Bianca wasn't sure of. There was a mention of a complete credit check and a down-payment in the files, but that was it. Yet a credit check and a down-payment sounded official and formal- it must've meant that Natalie Sullivan could get the apartment. "Yes."

"Ya already signed the lease?" The glint in Mickey's eyes had Bianca on edge, and she forced a grin onto her face.

"No, not yet."

"Then why'd ya expec' ta ge' the keys? Ya've already been givin' a copy of it, now sign it here an' ya'll ge' the keys."

The lease. Whatever that was, it was stopping Bianca from getting the apartment. "Would you like me to sign it right now?"

"Yeah. Here ya go, kid." Mickey pulled out a coffee-stained blue folder, pushing it and a pen across the desk to Bianca. She carefully looked through it, flipping through the pages before gripping the pen, signing on the assigned sections with shaking hands, hoping that the signature looked like Natalie Sullivan's signature. Bianca gave the lease back to Mickey, and after giving the contract a once-over, he pulled out a set of bronze keys, handing them to Bianca.

"Welcome ta the Viridian. We hope ya enjoy ya stay here."

 **«∙»**

The apartment was horrible.

Natalie Sullivan might've been fine with living in a dump the size of a closet, with fungus growing on the walls, the tiniest bathroom, mouse crawling on the floor, and beetles and spiders infesting the cell. Bianca and Nico, on the other hand, weren't- even the alleyway they'd stayed in was practically better than the room.

"Are you sure this is our room, Bea?" Nico's voice was pained, nose wrinkled in disgust as he looked up at the water stain that took up most of the ceiling.

Sighing, Bianca slung her arm around Nico's shoulder. "Yeah, it is." When Nico didn't look appeased, she continued to speak, "But hey, we probably won't spend a lot of time here. And at least we're together, right?"

"...Are you sure that we can't go to the desk guy and ask him for another room?"

Bianca forced herself to put a smile on her face, trying to make herself as believable as possible- Nico didn't need to know that the apartment didn't technically belong to them. "No, Nico, this is the one we paid for, so this is the one we'll stay in."

"Okay..." Nico muttered, turning to the mattress lying on the ground, in the room that was their living room/kitchen/bedroom. "Is that what we're sleeping on?"

"Yeah," Bianca said. "It's a mattress, and we can use our jackets for pillows- what else do we need?"

"Maybe an actual bed? Are you sure about this, Be-"

 _Knock._

The two jumped at the sudden noise, and a pit of horror seemed to grow in Bianca's stomach, her breath unsteady as she carefully grabbed her Stygian iron knife from where she'd put it aside earlier, facing the door as she finally spoke. "Shadow-travel to the alleyway, Neeks. I'll come and get you later."

Completely ignoring her, Nico just gripped his Celestial Bronze sword, facing the door with determination written into his face. Sighing, Bianca began to walk forward. "Fine. Hide in the closet then." At his whimper of protest, Bianca turned to look at him, meeting his gaze with her own leveled glare. " _Now_."

As soon as Nico finally trod over to the closet, Bianca took in a breath, trying to use the Mist to hide her knife as she placed a shaking hand on the doorknob, trying to calm her heart as she opened the door. Almost immediately something slashed at her, the sharp sting of a blade drawing blood as it hit Bianca's face.

" _I have not tasted Hades-spawn in centuries- you will make a fine meal_!" A creature's voice was low and raspy as it flew into the room, giant bat-like wings in place of arms keeping the creature aloft in the air. A grotesque-looking mockery of a woman's face leered at Bianca, the creature's torso bare with the exception of a brown satchel. The creature's few strands of wispy white hair fell below it's chest, which ended in a mass of blackened and burned skin, no legs visible to Bianca. Its skin was tinged blue with its bones sticking out at odd angles, making it look less and less like a human with every breath it took.

It flew up, cracks spreading across the ceiling, surveying the room before diving down in Bianca's direction as she went to throw her knife, its sharp teeth bared in a hideous scream. Its talons scratched her head, and a yell erupted from its mouth, the high-pitched sound seeming to be never-ending as the windows shattered, glass flying everywhere.

Bianca clutched her head, trying to cover her ears as her body fell to the floor, glass digging into her hands and knees. She began to crawl in the direction of the windows, hoping against hope that Nico had enough sense to leave as soon as he'd heard the door slam open. The scream was too loud for Bianca to try and shadow-travel out of there, and all that she could do now was hurl herself out of the window and hope that she would survive the fall before the creature hurt her.

Instead, she watched with wide eyes as a black blur sped past her body in the opposite direction, a held high in the shadow's hands, going directly to the creature. _Nico_ , Bianca thought with a horrified breath, trying to block out the side as she went to turn around, trying to help Nico, only to realize that even trying to turn her head caused pain to spike through her, rendering her helpless.

Suddenly, the scream was cut off, the ringing in Bianca's ears oh-so-noticeable. She could barely even move, and she was positive that she was deaf in both ears. Mind spinning, Bianca stumbled over to the broken window, putting her hands on the bits of glass that were still hanging in the window frame, ignoring the blood that began to drip down her hand as she looked down, seeing the mortals below run around panicking, trying to find Nico in the crowd below her.

A warm hand was wrapped around Bianca's wrist, pulling her away from the window, and she turned to see Nico's chocolate brown eyes looking at her with worry. His lips seemed to be moving, but Bianca wasn't really the best at reading lips, and she couldn't even hear him. When he saw the confused expression on her face, however, Nico seemed to understand what was going through Bianca's head, and he carefully pulled Bianca away from the window, turning her body so that she could see the creature.

Or at least, what was left of it.

Instead, there was simply a pile of dust on the floor, one that scattered across the floor with every gust of wind that came in from the windows. The brown satchel that the creature had been carrying had also been left behind, opened to reveal a cloak, a skeleton ring, a wad of cash, and a pouch of what looked like... _human flesh_.

Flinching at the sight of the Caucasian skin, Bianca tried to block out the ringing in her ears as she tentatively touched the satchel, half-expecting some sort of curse to be placed on her, or to have the creature appear in one of the corners of the room, if only to get the brown leather back. Yet, nothing happened, and Bianca picked up the satchel, checking to make sure that there wasn't anything else inside. Sure enough, all that toppled out were the things that Bianca had already seen.

Nico looked at the bag of flesh before shuddering, grabbing the cloak. "This looks kinda comfortable... can this be our blanket?"

Bianca paused, a laugh erupting from her when she realized that the ringing in her ears had stopped, that she could _hear_ again. "Of course, Neeks. Go put it on the mattres-" her voice cut off, a sudden realization coming to her- no sane person would even allow Nico and Bianca to set foot in the apartment building again, let alone allowing them to continue staying there.

Reading her face, Nico sighed dejectedly, grabbing the brown satchel and putting everything in there, determinedly ignoring the bag of human flesh.

"Sorry, Neeks. I- I thought... we'll find another place to stay, okay?"

"Yeah, sure, Bianca." Turning his head so that he was facing away from her, Nico picked up the skeleton ring, bringing it up to the light so that he could see it clearly. "This looks really cool."

Bianca turned to look at Nico, already hearing people running up the stairs, ready to kick open the door at a moment's notice. "Yeah, it is... we need to go, now." Reaching out to grab Nico's wrist, she closed her eyes as she walked over to a shadow, feeling the familiar darkness fall over her as she and Nico disappeared in a cloud of shadows.

 **«∙»**

When they reappeared, Bianca and Nico immediately fell to the ground, their skin scraping against the concrete of whatever they'd fallen against. They appeared to have landed on the roof of some sort of building, mass of chains and wires clustered behind them.

"Are you okay? Did you fall against anything?" Bianca's voice was nervous, worried, and Nico simply smiled wearily before standing up, dusting off his pants and searching the ground before grabbing the skeleton ring.

"I'm fine, Bea."

"You... brought the ring with you?"

"Yeah, here." Nico reached out to give Bianca the jewelry, and after a moment's hesitation, she put it on her finger. Smiling fondly, Bianca looked at the ring, twisting it slightly so that she could see it better. Instead, to her amazement, the ring seemed to grow until a black sword was in her hand, the hilt carrying an emblem of a white skull. Yet, while it was beautiful in a deadly sort of way, it simply didn't fit Bianca. The hilt was too small, the sword too long, the blade too curved. It wasn't _for_ her.

In front of her, Nico was pulling out his Celestial bronze sword, eyeing it critically as he tried to clean the dust covering it. An idea struck Bianca, and she turned to look at him, turning the black sword in her hand and watching as it shrunk back into a ring. "You know, you never told me exactly how you killed the monster."

Nico faltered before flipping his sword, quickly sheathing it again. "It was a Celaeno." He paused, allowing Bianca a moment to take that in.

 _Of course._ Mentally berating herself for not recognizing the creature, Bianca grinned. "Let me guess, you stabbed it in one of its wing and then slashed its throat?"

He shrugged. "Pretty much. It was messy though, not like the dummies and tiny hellhounds that we'd trained with at Dad-" Nico's voice cut off, and he fell into silence at the lapse of language, at calling Hades 'Dad'.

"Hey, its okay." Bianca sat cross-legged on the concrete flooring, patting the ground next to her, gesturing for Nico to sit there. Their legs dangled over the edge of the roof, and for a moment, they simple basked in the setting sun, knowing that now that they'd met their first monster in the mortal realm, more were sure to follow.

After the beat of calm, of silence, Bianca held out the skeleton ring, pressing it in Nico's hand. "I think this is meant for you, Nico, you were the one to defeat the monster, after all."

He was quiet, and doubt began to fill her- _Nico didn't like it_ , _He doesn't want jewelry,_ _It was a stupid idea, He won-_

Bianca felt something press against her side, and a small smile stretched across her face when she realized that Nico was _hugging_ her, his face pressed against her shoulder and his arms wrapped around her.

After a few minutes of simply sitting like that, Nico pulled away from her, a sheepish smile on his face as his watery eyes glowed with happiness. "Thank you," he breathed, "Thank you." A tear fell down his cheek, and something in Bianca told her that this tiny gesture meant much more to Nico than she had expected.

"You deserve it, and I will stand by you. The di Angelo siblings don't give each other up, after all, right?"

Nico smiled, leaning against her, the ring fitting perfectly on his finger. "Right."

* * *

"Have we received word from Vasilis?" Hades's voice boomed throughout the hall, even though a small group of skeletons sitting at the table in front of him were the only people in hall, other than Hades himself.

A short skeletons stood up, teeth chattering as he cleared his non-existent throat, shuffling a few papers to try and avoid Hades's merciless stare. "Er, y- yes, Mr. Hades- o- our intelligence rep- reports has- have- have stated that a-a m-monster was in the- in the apartment c-complex that Nicolas- N-Nico and Bianca w-were s-staying at. The- The monster was- it was a..." words faltering, the skeleton looked anxiously at Hades, quickly sorting through his papers- though, not fast enough for Hades.

The skeleton disappeared in a cloud of dust as Hades snapped his fingers, his eyes scanning the room. "Now, does anyone have any _proper_ message from Vasilis?" Another skeleton, this one looking to be a female judging by how she carried herself, stood up and eyed Hades carefully, her words sharp and authoritative.

"My Lord, we received report that Bianca and Nico found papers in an alleyway, and went to stay at an apartment complex called Viridian. There, a monster named 'Grio', who went under the name 'Mickey' admitted Bianca and Nico entrance, not wanting to confront two children of Hades. Soon after, he left the apartment complex, presumably to find a new job somewhere where there weren't any children of Hades. Once Grio left, a Celaeno entered the apartment, where the siblings killed it. Intelligence reports and spies found that they had shadow-traveled away as soon as the Celaeno was killed, and we are currently trying to find where in Manhattan they have traveled."

The skeleton finished off her summary with a quick bow, sitting back down immediately.

"They are still in Manhattan? Why have our forces not found them yet?" Hades demanded, dark eyes roving over the groups' eyes.

Another member of the crew stood up, this time a decaying zombie who's gender was impossible to discern. "My lord, when Bianca and Nico were children, you had placed an enchantment on them, and monsters were unable to find them. That enchantment has not worn off enough yet, making it hard to find the two."

Hades nodded before glaring at the crew. "And none of you thought to put Vasilis on the case?"

They flinched at Hades's gaze, quickly scribbling down nonsense on their notepads. "We- we will do it, my lord," a brave skeleton stammered.

After a long, drawn-out pause, Hades grinned. "Good. He will find them, and then Bianca and Nico will finally be back home."

* * *

 **Hey guys~ sorry for the super late update, I honestly have no excuse other than being lazy and uninspired. I know that this chapter DEFINITELY isn't my best work, and it's SUPER filler-y (like if you don't read it probably won't matter), but I did want to get something out for you guys. I'm super sorry, but I sort of have this policy that if the chapter isn't ready by Monday, I'll only post it on the next weekend, no matter the time that I actually finish writing this chapter (in this case, friday night). I was planning to post this last week, because the week before that I had nothing prepared, but then life got in the way and both Writer and I weren't able to edit it and get it as good as it could get.**

 **Also, did any of ya'll see the Tyrant's Tomb cover/read the first two chaps online (they were released on Thursday, and I've never clicked on anything faster tbh). SPOILERS AHEAD: so, it was pretty good (um reyna my qUEEN WAS ON IT), and during the monster fight, when there was a quick chance that Jason would come back to life I was like wtf Rick? You don't just motherfricken RAISE PEOPLE FROM THE EFFING DEAD. (i honestly should start a blog or something for this kinda stuff, and not just spam you guys w/this on these a/n :))**

 **also (last part of the a/n other than the comments i promise!), I was recently toying w/the idea of writing a short fic (like five-eleven chaps) set before PJatO, or even Percy was born. Yes, there will be OCs in it, but they won't really be major (and no it won't be like a huge quest or anything it's just a headcanon I had for the PJatO world that I want to explore more.) Would ya'll consider reading it? I'll give more description next chaps a/n if ya'll are interested, it's just an idea I have.**

 _Guest (Guest):_ Thank you! Unfortunately, I can't spoil it for you, but I hope that you like the pairings that will be revealed later on!

 _Keranovi (Guest):_ Thank you so much! I know, I don't really like cliche stories, and so I try to write this as best as I can while still keeping true to the story :) This was a whole chapter dedicated to Nico and Bianca [again for some reason], which probably means that next chapter will be all about Kelli and Maddy and Percy, but idk.

 _aesir21:_ The labyrinth will definitely be used, but probably not in the way that you're thinking :) Bianca's powers actually weren't really displayed in the books, other than being able to control skeletons/a bit of shadow-traveling, so I'm kinda experimenting/winging it tbh.

 _Bruce 77:_ Fun fact: I began writing out the response to your comment on here, but then it got too long, so I just PMed you it instead. Thank you for your comment!

 _aRTsyisAwsome:_ Thank you! Yeah, they did find a place to stay, but some stuff went down... :) The streets are honestly pretty bad places for minors, and it made me super sad to write the harassment, but I felt like I had to make it realistic :'( Those would be spoilers, even though I'm super tempted to tell you guys! Sorry for the late update!

 _Anonymous (Guest):_ Fear not, it will all be explained soon! ...well, maybe not SOON, but it will be explained... like at least twelve chapters later (im sorry, i want to introduce info in the proper scenes, not just dump it on you!) I figured that there would probably be more than one entrance to Tartarus in the Labyrinth, so this is just one of them :) And once more, sorry for the late update!

 _NB123:_ Lol, there will definitely be more :) Thank you!

 _Darkshot123:_ Well, now that you mention it, it's probably less filler-y than this chapter, but thank you!

 _deathcornfive:_...I must admit, I hadn't thought of that pairing... but anyway, Kelli's w/Maddy rn, and that probably isn't going to change anytime soon :) Sorry!

 _Etrigan212:_ Ugh, I really try and keep cliches out of my writing, so it's super nice to know that my writing isn't cliched! Hopefully those are good twists and turns!

 _drash252:_ oh wow, Happy late birthday! it's actually kinda funny cause I know someone irl with the same b-day as you :) I hope that you liked that chapter as your birthday gift from me :) And it's fine, we all get things to do sometimes :P

 _DreamCatcher06:_ Haha, you'll just have to wait and see :) Thank you! I hope this chapter lived up to your expectations, but honestly idk.

 **-Lauren Swan**

 **(P.S.: Would you guys be interested in a pinterest board for this kind of stuff?)**

 **(P.P.S.: If you liked the chapter, please follow, favorite, and review!)**


	13. Another (very) Unfortunate Author's Note

Hey guys...

I know that most of you guys are super mad at me about the very irregular updates, and I get it. I mean, I don't really like it when writer's skip a week of updating, and now, two times in a row, I skipped two weeks of just... no chapters, no writing, _nothing_. And I hate doing it, but I just... don't have the time, the strength, nor the inspiration to update frequently.

Now, before you ask, no, I'm not abandoning this. Writer and I have spent too much time working out the storyline, too much time figuring out the perfect plot, too much time on this to just... give up on this.

However, to keep my mind fresh and to try and be able to get back into my old groove, I'm going on a temporary hiatus. Not for too long, but it'll be at least until the end of April, at most until the end of May.

I'm really sorry about this, but I hope that when I come back, I'll be able to actually concentrate and write on this, hopefully writing chapters that live up to your guys' expectations.

If you guys want to read more from me, I still will be posting one-shots and poems (most likely in 'Camp Half-Blood), I just won't be updating this.

Until next time,

Lauren Swan


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